How to Live Without Hope
by Metrowolf
Summary: Roxy was born ten years after the world ended. Life was hard enough, and then her mother, her friends, even her cat don't last as long as she does. Now seventeen, Roxy has nothing to do, or even anything to live for besides getting drunk. Then one day a boy washes up in her city and what's left of Roxy's world is turned upside down.
1. Chapter 1

Roxy was ten years old when she became the last person on Earth.

Twenty years ago the world had been invaded by an Alien force bent on destroying the world. Cities were wiped off the map, millions died, the man holding the 'end is near' sign just laughed, and before long the world was flooded. The new alien queen was a sea creature, and preferred all her worlds to be like this. A few humans survived. On boats at first, but the queen caught onto that and started sending out her lusi monsters to cull them. Finally the humans were forced to take refuge on the floating cities the queen had created to house her new earthlings.

The creatures she brought in were strange little beetle people, half of them pitch black and half of them stark white. These Carapaces as they were called, were just as terrified of the queen as the humans were, and allowed the refuges to hide amongst them in peace. The queen still hunted them restlessly, sending wave after wave of drones and monsters to search the seas. Sometimes a human was caught and killed. Sometimes a whole city was burned down to nothing. Still, what was left of humanity found a way to survive.

During this time was when Roxy was born. Her mother, Rose, along with the small band of refugees she was with were overjoyed. It was incredible to see a child being born amidst so much disaster. It gave them all hope. The humans, along with the carapaces, swore to help her and keep that hope alive. It was hard of course. They taught her how to work the technology the aliens brought with them (she was a natural with their computers) and taught her to hide when the drones approached. They tried to shelter her as much as they could, but she cried with the rest of them whenever someone was lost.

It all started to go down hill when she turned six. A few other groups of refuge's had merged with Rose's, including a young boy just older than Roxy named Dirk. She was thrilled to have a friend her age, and Rose was glad for his older brother Dave. Both boys pretended to be chill about the world ending. "No more traffic or juggalos." Dave would joke. Dirk said the same things, even though he had no idea what traffic was. They always had this scary puppet with them, something they had found in a city. Roxy hated it, but it made Dirk happy so she let it stay.

They were both killed less than a year later during a drone raid. It had been quick and unsuspected, giving no one time to hide. Dirk was thrown into the ocean, and Dave jumped in after him. By time the raid left no one could find either of the bodies. Forced to accept they had drowned, what was left of the group had a funeral for them. Roxy's mom cried a lot over the next few days.

The group dwindled over the next few years. Rose found a way to get the alien technology to produce real fruits and vegetables, which were miles better than the tasteless nutrient slime the carapaces shared with them. Roxy tried it a few times, but she could only ever appear-ify pumpkins and she gave up. They used the extra pumpkins to trade with the carapaces, and soon Roxy had her own room filled with games and wizard books. She even got a cat from a regal looking carapace. She called him Friggilish.

The day she lost her mom started out like every other. Roxy woke up early, and she and Rose took a few pumpkins down to what they considered to be the market place. They never could be sure, since the carapaces didn't have a word for it, but it was where they got all their trading done. As they walked to their booth Roxy found a creepy looking doll. It wasn't the same one that frightened her when she was younger, but it reminded her of Dirk. Rose tried to remember something good about him so Roxy wouldn't get upset, but instead told her that they weren't actually brothers.

Rose explained that she had talked to Dave one night and he admitted he was Dirk's dad. The mother had been a beautiful young lady he met before everything had gotten so bad. They stayed together for years, but soon after Dirk was born she had passed away. Roxy chided her mother for telling a sad story while they were trying to be happy, and then set her pumpkin down at the waiting booth.

However the sirens went off before they could even get started. Roxy left the pumpkins and ran ahead of her mom all the way home, watching as the carapaces hid from the approaching raid. Just as they reached the home one of the others stopped Rose.

"You need to see this." He said urgently. Roxy wasn't sure what it meant, but Rose decided it was important.

"Stay still, stay hidden until I come to get you." Rose gave Roxy a kiss on the forehead and followed the man back outside. Roxy slipped into the downstairs lab, petting Friggilish furiously. A few hours stretched into all day, and long after night had fallen she finally grew tired and fell asleep, the cat staying up as if to keep watch over her.

The next morning Roxy was still alone. She was confused as to why she was still in the lab, when the events of the day before came back to her. She wasn't sure if the all clear had been signaled yet, but she was hungry and needed to find her mom.

Upon walking outside Roxy found that half of the city had been destroyed. The market place was gone, along with the homes of some of her carapace friends. There was no one else. All of the carapaces that were still alive refused to come out of their homes. There were no other people. Roxy forgot how hungry she was, and spent the rest of the day running around the broken city, screaming for her mom at the top of her lungs and not giving a damn who heard. In the end she passed out in a doorstep, and a particularly brave carapace went outside to take her home.

The next seven years were a slow dream for Roxy. She played her games, she played with her cat. More than anything else Roxy drank. Aside from vegetables, Rose had been good at creating tons of alcoholic beverages, but then refused to drink it. The world was dangerous enough now a days, no need to make it worse She said. Roxy had been drunk once when she was eight, and the hangover had been enough to keep her away from it for the next two years. Now, it was the only thing that kept her going.

She still created pumpkins using the lab, but instead of trading she simply gave them away. The carapaces still liked her and helped her, especially one house hold. There were three carapaces living in the house, two of the black ones and a white one. The tallest one, told stories of her days as a postal worker back on her home world. The middle one was a police officer, and the shortest one was a rising politician. They didn't have names, but Roxy decided she loved them very much and spent a lot of time with them.

Then Frigglish died, and Roxy felt more alone than ever. She refused to talk to her friends, and spent all of her time alone in the lab, making paradox clones of him with one of the machines she found. None of the cats were anything like Frigglish, but she did create one spunky little mutant kitten. She had four eyes, and Roxy named her Vodka mutini after her favorite drink.

Again, Roxy went back to being drunk and reckless. Sometimes she just sat at her computer writing stories about the kids she saw in her dreams. A boy her age with dark hair and glasses that she called Jake. Then there was a girl named Jane. The two of them fell in love and had a bunch of babies, and Roxy always cried when she reread that part. On her seventeenth birthday she started to write in a journal she liked to refer to as the hope diaries. Ironically of course, as her own hope was dead.

In these diaries she wrote about her dreams. There was a perfect little pink world, with all of her carapace friends, and Dirk was there because he never really died. Roxy was the last human that existed on earth, and it wasn't until she turned seventeen did her story really start.

The postal worker took it upon herself to watch Roxy when she was drunk, which to say was all the time. One day in the summer Roxy walked along the edges of the city, swaying precariously and threatening to fall into the endless sea. She knew how to swim, but everything was harder when you are as drunk as she was. Roxy didn't protest when the carapace took her hand.

That's when she saw a seagull. Roxy had seen a few of them before, but this one was staring at her, waiting for her to notice it. "Heeeeello Mr. Gul-gull." She slurred giggling at it. The bird took off toward the sea, but then doubled back. Roxy watched as it landed on a bit of floating junk, before realizing there was something else down there.

She went to check it out, but PM tugged on her hand in a worried fashion. "Oh thash right. Sillly me." Roxy nodded, then stripped off all of her clothes before running across the nearest dock and jumping into the water. She ignored the chill she felt and swam up to the bit of junk easily. The carapace had been silly to worry, she was a natural drunk swimmer. The gull squawked at her and took off, but Roxy didn't notice. On that floating piece of junk was a person.

She tugged it back to the dock and climbed up, still swaying from all the drinking she had done that morning. She was sure that her mind was playing tricks on her. It was just a unconscious carapace, or even a large doll. There was no way a man had just washed up on her city. Roxy looked him over. His shirt was torn, but his injuries didn't seem that bad. A few cuts and bruises, but the were already healing. He had a tattoo on his shoulder, but Roxy just shrugged. If her mind was producing a dream guy, why not make him look as rugged as possible? The tattoo was a bit unnerving though. It reminded her of that creepy doll from all those years ago. In fact, the boy looked a lot like Dave.

Roxy tried to pull him onto the dock with her, but he was heavier than she though he would be. "What the hack brain boy." She muttered. "My imaginachun- imagi- creation- is not usually this good!" She pulled him halfway onto the dock before slumping back. "Ohhhhh Mrs. Mai lady!" Roxy called. "Can you help me move this hunka imagination?"

The carapace looked at the boy with fright. "I don't think he's a part of your imagination." She said quietly.

"Nonesents!" Roxy replied happily. "I always see other people. Shum times I see mom. Now elp me lift him hup."

Together they carried the unconscious boy to Roxy's room. She was giggling as she shooed PM away. "I get to be nurse Roshy, thish will be so much fun!" The carapace was anxious to leave Roxy alone with the injured boy, but reluctantly left like she was told.

As carefully as her drunk fingers could, Roxy cleaned the wounds and bandaged them. Every time she let her fingers stay on his skin longer than they needed to. Roxy knew she was drunk, but he felt so real. There was no way, no way at all someone else could be alive. Not after all this time.

She fell asleep that night next to him, drinking in his scent, and praying to anyone who would listen that she would still be drunk enough to see him when she woke up in the morning. For the first time in years she fell asleep peacefully, not a single tear in her eye.


	2. Chapter 2

When Roxy woke up the next morning the boy was gone. She cursed herself angrily, for even hoping that he had been real. Then Roxy sighed and stretched her arms out slowly. Her head was pounding from all the drinking she had been doing the day before, so Roxy reached to her bedside table and grabbed an open bottle of whiskey. Vodka Mutini hissed at her and scrambled out of the room.

"Shut up pussy." Roxy hissed back. She took a swig, and her throbbing immediately lessened.

"That's not very nice." The boy said as he stepped back into the room. He had a cup of coffee in one hand. Roxy had forgotten she owned some of that. She forgot everything she had ever known looking at him. His body was well sculpted, she could see just about all of it as the only thing he was wearing was a towel. His blonde hair was slicked back with water, he must have just gotten out of her shower. She forgot she had one of those too.

Roxy let out a surprised squeal and ducked under her pillow, as if it could guard her from her hangover phantom. "Who're you?" She managed, though if he was real she was making a complete idiot of herself.

"You don't remember me?" He asked, his face falling.

"Dave?" Roxy asked, before instantly knowing that was wrong. "You can't be Dave, he drowned."

"No, neither of us drowned." He said slowly. "It's me, Dirk."

Roxy clutched the pillow close to her chest and tried to focus on breathing. It was a lot harder than she thought it would be. Her head throbbed painfully, and tears had come to her eyes. All these years, and Dirk had been alive somewhere else the entire time. She looked up at him, and saw that he looked as hurt as she did. "Why did you never come back, if you were still alive. What happened to you and Dave?" Roxy whispered.

Dirk adopted a sorrowful expression. "That day, all those years ago, I really thought that was it for me. I fell into the ocean and Dave jumped in after me. He pulled the both of us onto a housing block that had come loose from the rest of the city, and by time the attack was over we were to far away to swim back. The whole city looked like it was up in flames, we thought there wasn't anyone to go back to." He clutched the towel close and sat down next to Roxy. "I thought you were dead. We stayed in the floating room, found another city, and tried to make a life for ourselves. I never stopped thinking about you, I kept seeing you in my dreams. Then a few days ago our city was bombed. I don't know what happened to Dave."

"I'm sorry." Roxy whispered. He looked at her imploringly, and she could tell he wanted to ask about everyone else he had left behind. She almost didn't want to tell him, but he deserved to know what happened. "A few years after you left their was another raid. When I woke up everyone was gone. I thought I was the last." She stopped.

Dirk didn't know what to say. He stood up and walked out of the room. Roxy watched him go, unable to say anything to keep him from going. It dawned on her that for the last seven years she thought she was the last person on earth, and now she knew she was wrong. What was she going to say to him? What can you say to the last man?

Maybe if she was lucky he would just leave, take a different piece of junk and float away. Leave her to her drinks and her mutant cats, and allow her to live out the rest of her short pathetic life until the condescension decided it was her time to die. No, Roxy shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts away. They had to stick together.

Roxy stood up and halted as the room tilted around her. She took another swig of whiskey before following Dirk out of her room. She moved through the empty house, past long hallways and cold uninviting rooms. Finally she found him sitting on the edge of the roof, staring at the rising sun. She wobbled slightly as she approached him, but found her footing before she neared the edge.

"S not theat- that bad." Roxy said, sitting down on the roof next to him. He looked at her, his orange eyes wide with grief. He had put back on the clothes he had been wearing when she found him yesterday. A black wife beater and a pair of baggy jeans. Both articles of clothing were badly ripped, and still pretty filthy from his swim. "I have cats, and carapace frends, and lotsa lots of drinks." She said, holding out the whiskey bottle.

To her surprise, Dirk snatched he open bottle from her and tossed it into the ocean. "Hey!" She shouted, one hundred percent proud of herself for not jumping off the roof after it. Dirk looked positively furious with her.

"That's all you do?" He shouted. Roxy shrank away from him, unused to yelling. "You sit here and play with your cats and get drunk? You're the last girl on earth, and you're wasting your life!" Dirk snapped.

Roxy was to stunned to reply. "I writ." She muttered after a moment. "And I have the high shcore at super smash brothers." Roxy had never thought she was wasting her life. Mostly because she had never really considered what she had a life.

His face relaxed a bit. "I'm sorry for yelling, it's just frustrating. I finally found you again, and you've got less than I had with Dave."

"I have a bunch of equikint- equit- eu-"

"Equipment."

"That, and I know how to use it really well." Roxy said, pointing her finger at him accusingly. "What did you have?"

Dirk frowned at her. "I had some equipment too, but I don't think we had the same things. The new city was made for manufacturing drones, and I got plenty of raw materials to build my own robots. I had a few of my own drones, and I sparred with them for practice against the real deal." Then he cracked the first smile Roxy had ever seen him wear. "And me and Dave made puppets and ran this blog."

"Dog bless the carapaces." Roxy replied. "End of the world and they still keep the internet up."

"So what sort of equipment do you have?" Dirk asked, standing up and holding his hand out for Roxy. She took it and allowed him to pull her up, but stood up to fast and fell forward. Roxy gasped, but before she could fall off the roof Dirk's arms were around her. He tugged her away from the edge, and back towards the stairs.

"Thanks." Roxy said breathlessly. Dirk blinked down at her, but didn't let her go. "Dirk." She said without thinking. "I'm safe now."

"Sorry ." He muttered, letting her go. She felt her face flush red, unhappy that she had made him let go. "no more drinking for you." He said lightly.

Together they went down to the lab that Roxy had piratically grown up in. If it wasn't such an important room, Roxy wasn't sure she would have ever gone back to it. Most of her worst memories were in here. She pushed the feeling of dread to the back of her mind like she always did, and showed Dirk all the different machines she had inherited from her mother. She showed him the paradox machine where she had made Vodka Mutini, and then the appearifyier machine. He decided that he would give it a whirl, though she warned him the only thing she had gotten from it for the past few years was pumpkins. As soon as he touched the controls a waterfall of ripe looking fruit materialized in the lab. Roxy was quite angry with him, and let him figure out the rest of the equipment by himself. She only got more upset to find he was a natural with everything else.

After several hours of exploring and eating ripe fruit they wound up back in Roxy's room. They had seen parts of the city that Roxy had forgotten existed. When did they start rebuilding the part of the city that had been destroyed when she lost her mom. On top of that, when did they finish rebuilding it? Maybe Dirk was right, even if she was the last human for a few years, she could have been doing more than getting drunk.

Roxy sat down on the bed and patted the empty sheets next to her as seductively and slowly as she could. Dirk rolled his eyes, but sat down next to her. He was wearing a brand new shirt that she had bartered from a carapace, and in celebration of finding another living being Roxy had gotten a new skirt.

"I missed you." Roxy whispered to him. Truth be told, she missed everyone. But Roxy didn't feel the need to tall Dirk that. Instead she smiled playfully and pushed his arm.

Dirk gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I missed having a little sister."

Roxy frowned. "You don't need to think of me as a little sister. I don't. Think of you as a brother that is. I don't want to." She stumbled over her words, and started to blush. She had learned a few things from the carapaces and what was left of the internet, but it looked like flirting wasn't something you could figure out on your own.

To her further chagrin, Dirk tensed up. "You don't want to."

"Well," She started slowly, beating around the bush. She placed her hand on his shoulder."we are the last people on earth."

"No." Dirk shook her hand off and stood up suddenly. "No, we do not have to think about that. Ever." He said angrily before walking out of the room.

Roxy stared after him, her eyes wide. After a few moments it became obvious he wasn't coming back, and a few more moments for the tears to start to fall. Why was he so angry? This was what they had to do right? She wiped away the tears in frustration. What do you do when the last person on earth doesn't like you?


	3. Chapter 3

Roxy fell asleep that night curled up with a now empty bottle of vodka. She woke early the next morning, but felt no desire to get up and even pretend to live anymore. She stayed in bed for most of the day, letting her hangover work itself out. There was no alcohol in arms length if her bed, so she just didn't drink that day. Roxy tossed and turned, trying to keep her tears and vomit from coming up. She kept the feelings at bay long enough to fall asleep holding herself and biting the pillow from hunger pains.

The next day she was feeling a little better. Well enough to get out of bed at the least. She wandered around the empty house in search of Dirk and found nothing. Roxy ended up in the kitchen at some point, but felt to sad to eat anything. She forced a piece of bread down before heading back to her room. This time she wasn't unable to resist the temptation of the drinks, and fell asleep happy and wasted.

This vicious cycle kept on for an entire week. Roxy alternated the days in which she was drunk and hungover, only leaving her room a few times a day to get food or use the bathroom. It was just like all seven years before Dirk came back from the dead. She laughed whenever she thought about it. Why on earth did she think anything would change. Something as stupid as necessity wouldn't get Dirk to love her.

Then one day she decided she wouldn't stand for it anymore. No one got smashed and cried about a breakup and still got the guy in the end in all the shitty chick flick movies Roxy had ever seen. She would have to make him fall in love, however the frick someone does that. She found herself wishing her mother was still alive more than ever, and then she remembered that she still had friends here.

Roxy stood up, waiting a whole half hour for the room to stop spinning, and marched her happy butt to the shower. She spent a good two hours, swaying as she shaved her legs and rinsed her hair. Then Roxy wrapped her towel around her head, stalking back to her room in the nude. It looked like Dirk really was gone, no one stopped her on her way back to the room.

After she was dressed in her best white kitty shirt, pink skirt, and pink scarf she walked outside. It was still pretty early in the day, she vaguely recalled that today was a hangover day. Roxy would probably be feeling it later. Still she walked across the uneven sidewalks in a familiar path. The knock rang clearly across the city block.

The larger of the black carapaces answered the door. "Roxy?" He asked, blinking at her. Instantly WV and PM were at his side.

"hai guiz-" Roxy opened her mouth to talk to her friends. Maybe she would make a joke, or at the very least explain what had happened to her since she stopped talking to PM a week ago. Instead She opened her mouth said hello and started bawling.

Her friends stared at her for a moment, not sure what to do. Then PM took a step toward her and put her long hard shelled arms around Roxy. AR and WV quickly joined in the hug, and for a few minutes the four of them stood there awkwardly while Roxy cried. Before she knew what was going on she was sitting on their tiny couch sobbing her story into PM's lap. The white carapace stroked her head and nodded every now and then, but listened to her in silence.

"And now I don't know what to do." Roxy whispered. "I may have come on a little strong, but he could have come and talked to me or somthin instead of being a dick prince."

"A prince?" WV snapped to attention immediately. "Just point this ruffian royalty out and I will beat him-"

"He is not an actual prince, Roxy was just using a colorful," PM glared at Roxy. "albeit rude human expression."

"Rry." Roxy mumbled into her hands.

"Now darling, I'm terribly sorry you're having yourself some boy troubles. We really don't have matesprites or whatever it is you humans have." AR said, obviously trying to be encouraging but not really saying anything useful. "But there is not a whole lot you can do to help yourself if you insist upon sitting in your room drinking."

Roxy looked up at him mournfully. "That's all I know." She whimpered.

"I remember you before you lost your mother." WV said quietly in his tiny voice. He was the most level headed, although a bit frivolous, of the three. Unless royalty was mentioned he never yelled, never got angry, or even scared. Roxy guessed he had a run in with her royal condescending but never pried about any of their pasts. "You didn't drink, and you made all sorts of friends. Some of them liked you enough to stay after you started wasting away your life. You could just be yourself around him, no drinking." He remarked with an encouraging smile.

Roxy buried her face back in her hands. She had stopped talking to most of her carapace friends when she lost her mom, but PM had always gone out her way to help, and the boys followed her. She was never just hurting herself all those years. Roxy looked back up at them with a watery smile. "Thanks." She whispered, wiping her eyes.

"Just don't forget about us." PM smiled.

"I could never." Roxy said, bringing them all close for another group hug. You never can have to many of those she decided.

That's when the sirens started to go off. Roxy jolted upright and looked at the door as if a drone was going to knock it down any second. The carapaces followed her gaze and looked back up at her, but she didn't mind them. They were already home, as long as they didn't leave they would be fine. Actually, as long as Roxy didn't leave she'd be fine. No matter how many times she repeated that, she thought about the last time she had abandoned someone she loved and hid by herself. She was never going to lose him again.

"Roxy!" PM shouted as the girl sprang for the door and ran outside.

Roxy raced across the city, stopping in one of her secret little hiding places to retrieve a gun. She had stashed away several weapons over the years, since she didn't like having them at home and thought this would make them easier to retrieve. She hadn't really needed to use a gun, but learned to shoot well when she was young. Her mom thought it would be something worth knowing, and it looked like she was right.

"Dirk!" Roxy shouted, but a thought struck her. He had been raised just like she had, he knew what the sirens meant had probably already gone back to her house. She stopped running at once and turned around. Ahead of her there was a small red patch in the sky. Drones. It looked like there were maybe ten of them, flying in a tight formation. Normally there would be two or three in a patrol, and Roxy had to wonder if the incident that brought Dirk to her also brought these abhorrent killers to her city.

She made her way carefully back to her home, but the process would take much more time now that the drones were within sight. She had to duck around in the shadows and doorways, anything to keep from being spotted. It was time consuming yes, but not very hard at all, as she was used to taking the dodgy route home.

When she was no more than a hundred feet from her home the drones all started buzzing and swooping in on her city. Roxy gasped and pressed herself flat against the doorway she was in. They had to have spotted someone, but it didn't look like they were coming for her. There was only one other person they could be after. Her first impulse was to run forward and give herself away as a distraction. And who would that help? That would only put them both in danger. Some how to kept herself under control and crept forward, still staying in the shadows.

Just as she feared, Dirk was standing in the yard in front of her house, a sword in his hand ready to fight with the oncoming drones. He said he and Dave had fought with them before, but this many? Roxy felt terrified for him, and covered her face with her hands as the first ones swept down. There was a loud metallic ripping sound and she looked back up. The two drones were laying on the ground in heaps, cut cleanly in two. Dirk was jumping away from a missile shot by a third drone, and still two more were swooping in.

Roxy wanted to turn and run away, pretend he never came back. So why didn't she? What was keeping her rooted to the spot, unable to help or run or do anything at all? No, she thought angrily, she could do something. Roxy put the rifle up to her shoulder and took aim at one of the drones swooping in. She got the head centered and pulled the trigger.

The drone's eye shattered, and it careened suddenly into the second drone. They both tore at each other blindly, and fell flaming into the ocean with a loud roar. Dirk looked up in surprise, and when he spotted her he gave a thumbs up and turned back to the fight. Roxy watched him, unsure of where the courage to shoot came from. Finally she put the rifle back up to her shoulder and fired again. This time one of the drones lost a hand, and it looked up to where she was hidden accusingly. Oops.

While Dirk was preoccupied with three of the drones, the last one started heading in Roxy's direction. She pumped the action and held it up again. She didn't want to think about what would happen if she missed this time. The drone's head exploded as her her bullet ripped through it's jaw. Or rather, where the jaw would be if it had one.

Roxy let out a whoop of joy and glanced back down at the yard. Her blood froze. six drones lay trashed in yard, but the last one was holding on to Dirk, as if trying to squeeze the life from him. The sword was halfway across the yard, no where near Dirk's reach. The drone was missing one arm, and it looked like it's weapons system was down, but it didn't need any of its technology to crush the boy.

"Dirk!" Roxy screamed in fear, hastily pulling the gun back up. She was almost to afraid to fire, if she missed there was a good chance she would kill him, but she pulled the trigger anyway. If she didn't his death was certain. The lasts drone's arm went limp and it fell backwards, dropping Dirk.

Roxy sprinted forward. Dirk coughed at her, but it didn't look like he would be permanently damaged. Roxy wasn't sure what to say, but noticed she was in tears again. "Dirk, why did you go outside?" she managed, wiping her eyes.

"Looking for you." He whispered. "You weren't home."

Roxy gave him a hug, and was surprised when he hugged her back. "I'm sorry." Roxy sobbed.

"Don't be. We need to stick together from now on. No fighting." Dirk replied, pulling himself but not letting go of Roxy. Somehow he had kept on his weird pointy sunglasses during the entire fight. Now he pushed them up to his forehead, so she could see his bright orange eyes. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and then laid back down to catch his breath. "I'll protect you from now on."


	4. Chapter 4

Roxy felt warmth fill her gut. This was a good start. Next thing he would be proposing marriage and- oh god that was not warmth filling her stomach up. Roxy stood up, a bit faster than she should have, and wobbled to the edge of the courtyard. Once she reached a crack in between the houses she threw up, watching her stomach contents fall into the waiting sea.

"Roxy?" Dirk asked, slowly getting to his feet. He winced with the effort, and Roxy was sure she would have to redo his evaluation. He may have a broken bone or two.

"Sss nothing." Roxy waved her hand, before hurling again. "Just a little hungover from last night's party." She felt the pressure in her head fade with each heave. It wasn't very pretty, but soon she'd be able to walk home on her own two feet.

"I should be mad that you've been drinking again, but frankly I'm impressed that you killed three of them with a hangover. Either we make an outstanding team, or these bots were trash." Dirk said, holding his side and making his way over to her.

"We shar an standing team." Roxy said, wiping her mouth with her scarf and then taking it off. The scarf would be thrown straight into the washing machine when they got home. Dirk gave her a pathetic smile, and then whimpered with the effort of it.

"You're drunk, and I can't even destroy ten drones without help. Some team we make." Dirk laughed into his hands. It was a cold humorless laugh, and it frightened Roxy.

"A hungver, and a boy on a bad day." Roxy corrected him, trying to cheer him up. "We have each other now, remember? We don't have to just protect each other. We can learn from each other!"

He tilted his head back and stared at the sky. His shades had a crack in the corner of the right lens. "I want to learn how to shoot like you did. I prefer my swords, but learning how to shot a gun might come in handy. And I could teach you how to use my swords if you want." Dirk replied, looking back down at her.

"Ogood!" Roxy slurred. "We can get started right away." then she leaned over and vomited into the water again.

"We can get started tomorrow when you're feeling better." Dirk replied.

The next morning PM and WV came into Roxy's room to wake her up. They both looked uncharacteristic terrified, and gave her a tight hug when she sat up.

"Oh Roxy we were so worried when you ran out yesterday! Every one could hear the fight, we thought you were a goner!" WV cried, not wanting to let her go.

"Don't need to worry about that anymore." Dirk said, limping into her doorway. "We're going to keep each other safe, and sober from now on." He said pointedly. The two carapaces looked at him for a moment before nodding.

"PM." The tall white carapace said, holding her hand out.

"WV." the shorter black carapace said after Dirk had shook PM's hand.

"And AR is outside cleaning up the mess you two made yesterday." Pm added. "You know how he gets, if there is something in this town that's not supposed to be there, he'll take care of it."

Roxy managed a laugh. "Does he have the entire block roped off?"

"You know he does." WV smiled. The carapaces left after they were satisfied Dirk was going to help Roxy. After the fight the day before the kids had limped home, one hungover and throwing up, the other had a broken rib. Roxy had laid in the shower until she was well enough to help Dirk. She wrapped his chest, but couldn't think of any other way to help him. He tried to play it cool, like the injury didn't hurt him, but Roxy saw his pain through his smiles. She had seen it so many times in her reflections.

With Dirk's help, Roxy found a way to get medication through the apperaifier, and she gave him the recommended dose. He fell asleep in Rose's old room, which was much bigger and nicer than Roxy's. It still smelled like Rose, and it made Roxy sick just stepping into it. She held the bile in, something she had gotten much better at, and laid Dirk down, tucking him in and singing the lullaby her mother used to sing to her when she was sick.

"Hush little child, everything will be fine

lay your head, find your peace of mind

When I leave please don't cry for me

you'll still have everything you need

stay young, stay brave, have fun

keeping hoping because one day

your prince will come."

Of course it didn't quite fit Dirk's situation like it fit Roxy's when she was five, but he was asleep anyway so it didn't really matter. Roxy gave him a kiss on the forehead and went to her room to go to sleep.

Now the pair strolled across the city, careful to skirt around AR's caution tape. It was wrapped around all the light posts, and the drone's were still in the center, cut to ribbons. The one that Roxy shot lay several feet away from the rest, and she couldn't even see where the head had gone. She smiled, a bit to proud of her skill.

The taped off area was surrounded by the carapaces, looking in at the carnage. Some looked surprised, most of them just looked frightened. One of them turned around as Roxy and Dirk passed, and he gave a frightened squeak. His friend turned around to see what was going on, and he took one look at the kids and ran off, his friend trailing close behind. A few other carapaces were watching them wearily.

"Does this happen often?" Dirk asked Roxy, watching the black pieces' fleeing figures.

"Most of them just tolerate me. Since my mom died, I've been that one intoxicated girl who's just putting them in danger. Whenever a few drones are killed they tend to stay away from me for a time. Though last time it wasn't me that killed the drones, it was this weird-o rapping robot. I forget it's name though. Hatchet fang? Knife jaw? No, I'm pretty sure I was drunk when I met him." Roxy replied rapidly.

"Oh." Was all Dirk said in reply. He looked away from her, and further into the city. "Where did you say you had the guns stashed away?"

Roxy put her pointer finger to her lips and hissed at him. "Shh!" She looked around to make sure none of the carapaces were looking at them. Of course, most of them were anyway. "They don't like weapons, so I try to keep them hidden."

Dirk gave a slight nod of his head. "Sorry." He muttered. He discretely shifted his arm, to better hide the sword at his waist.

"Well there's no point in trying to hide that anymore." Roxy snorted. "They've all already seen it."

"Why didn't you tell me before hand?" Dirk quipped.

Roxy shrugged. "I just felt safer seeing you carry it. I didn't think about the fact that it was a weapon until I was seeing what it could do again." She said, nodding her head back toward the sliced drones.

They continued on in silence until Roxy came across another one of her hiding places. She pulled a small pistol from inside a mail box. "Just don't tell PM where I had hidden it." Roxy grimaced as she turned around. "She was a mail lady back on their home planet, and she took her job very seriously. She'd wring my neck."

Dirk nodded and took the gun from her hands. He pointed it at a window across the street, but didn't pull the trigger. Instead he lowered it back down and looked at her. "Where can we practice in peace?"

"I'll show you my shooting range." Roxy said, pulling an ammo pack from deeper in the mail box. She saw that Dirk was staring at her, his eyebrows raised. "What? Always be prepared or whatever."

They crossed the road and into an empty building. The walls had several crudely drawn circles on them, and all the bulls eyes were worn away with the number of times they had been hit. A few of the windows were cracked and taped over, and several more were simply gone. A few desks were turned over on the floor, to use as cover during one of Roxy's pretend fire fights.

Roxy loaded a bullet. "You might want to cover your ears." she said, before aiming at one of the red circles. A loud crack tore through the room, and a chip of wall fell from the bulls eye. She turned and looked at Dirk, who had a look of faint surprise and both of his hands over his ears.

"Good shot." He smiled, taking the gun from her. She showed him how to load it, a bit more slowly this time. He took aim at a different circle and fired.

The wall a few feet away from the target exploded, sending bits of plaster raining down. Dirk dropped the gun and put his hands to his bad side, wincing in pain.

"Oh!" Roxy said in fright, rushing to his side. "I forgot, there's kickback. Not a lot with the tiny pistol, but you're still really hurt." She almost started to cry. She could be so stupid sometimes.

"No, I'm fine." Dirk replied, standing up straight with another wince. "We should probably come back and do this another day though." He gave her a weak laugh. Roxy nodded and they walked back across town. As they went Roxy stored her gun and ammo back in their mail bin. As she took a step back she noticed a seagull staring at her. It gave a loud squawk and took off.

"They're so annoying, but I can't say I've ever shot one." Roxy said, watching it fly away. "I mean, we're so lucky to have life, what right do we have to take it away?"

They went back the next day, after Dirk promised he would be more careful with his ribs. They tried again with the pistol, but Roxy had also brought along one of her rifles. She allowed Dirk to take on shot every half hour, and that seemed to be plenty of resting time. She showed him how to load and shoot the other gun, and he let her practice with the sword. As they day wore on it became obvious that Roxy was terrible with the sword, and Dirk couldn't shoot to save his life. It made her a bit guilty, but she was kind of happy she was better than him at something.

Once they accepted they wouldn't be getting any better at the others art, they started to talk. They talked about everything they could think of. How Roxy could beat any of the carapaces at call of duty, how Dirk liked to swim through the ruins of his old city, they even talked a little about the people they had lost, but it was to hard to remember so they stopped. Roxy stared up at the ceiling, trying not to think about how much she had cried when she lost her mom. They ended up head home after that, unable to think of anything else to say.

As they walked they heard a shout from somewhere ahead of them. "Roxy! Oh Roxy!" PM sprinted into view and stopped right before them, panting hard. She looked at the two of them, her face a mask of panic. "Oh I've been looking for you. He's with WQ right now, but he's hurt so bad. So bad Roxy." she shuddered.

"What's wrong?" Roxy asked in confusion. "Who's hurt? WV?"

"No, not-" PM gasped. "It's another human."


	5. Chapter 5

Roxy felt her blood run cold. Two weeks ago she was the only human alive, and now there's two more? What was next, was she going to find a hidden city of people? She shook her head, this was no time to be thinking about something as silly as that. "Take us." Roxy said seriously.

PM nodded her head, and they set off at a quick pace, but slow enough that Dirk didn't have to strain himself. The carapace lead them into the new part of town that Roxy had never been to before. She wondered if any of her friends that had lived there were still alive.

The carapaces watched them from the side of the street and from their windows. Whatever human washed up on this town, it had them all frightened. Just ahead of them, in one of the largest homes Roxy had ever seen, a tall white Carapace was standing, a tiny black cat resting on her shoulder. for one fleeting second Roxy thought it was Friggilish, but then she realized it was the carapace that had given her the cat in the first place, so it was probably a kitten. The white woman lifted her arm to wave at them, but all Roxy could notice was that her arms were covered in blood.

PM bowed slightly as she approached the carapace, and then stood up straight, waving to Roxy and Dirk. The white queen could only look worried. She set the kitten down and walked back into her house. Roxy felt herself shaking, and suddenly Dirk's arm was around her.

"It's going to be fine." He whispered, but his voice was taunt with worry.

Roxy nodded at him and they followed the queen into her home. The living room was high and as luxurious as a room can get for a queen living in the slums. There were a few pristine white couches, a black and white checkerboard rug, and a hallway leading deeper into the home. Roxy barely noticed any of it. The first thing she did notice was the loud groaning from down the hall, and a blood trail leading in the same direction. She felt like she was going to be sick.

WQ stood at the edge of the living room, waving them further down the hall. Roxy took Dirk's hand, but couldn't find it in herself to say anything. The walked down the hall and into a room where the door was slightly ajar. Inside was an occupied bed which the queen was bending down next to, and blood. It was splattered across the floor and the walls, pooling on the bed, covering the figure on the bed. The queen took a step back, taking a blood soaked towel with her, so they could see who it was.

The man on the bed was missing an arm, and there was to much blood on his face to tell the extent of his injuries, but Roxy knew instantly he was missing an eye. Still, the slick blonde hair and one red eye was enough to tell who it was. Dave Strider.

Roxy let out a small chirp, and knew for a fact she was going to be sick. She let go of Dirk's hand and ran back to the living room, past the regal carpet and the nice little lamp until she was outside. She heaved for a second, but nothing came out. Instead Roxy sat down on the front porch, holding her head in her hands, trying to forget what she just saw.

The door opened behind her, and WQ sat down next to her. The queen didn't say anything, just put her arm around Roxy and rubbed her back. The girl didn't realize she was crying until she opened her mouth to say something and a hiccup escaped. "Will he survive?" She sobbed.

The queen looked down at her. Of all the carapaces, she was the one that looked most human. She still had the hard white exoskeleton the rest of them, but her head was oval shaped, her figure was curvy instead of flat, and her eyes were thin black almonds. Now she had a small sad smile on her lips. "He is strong. He will be in much pain for a long time, but that's the burden of survival."

Roxy nodded and leaned into her. They stayed there for a few minutes before the door opened again and Dirk stepped onto the porch. He sat down next to Roxy, not saying anything. She couldn't see his eyes, he was still wearing the broken triangular sun glasses, but he was extremely pale.

"Dirk." Roxy said, wiping away her tears and holding her arms out.

"I'm fine." He said calmly, but he leaned into her hug anyway.

The white queen stood up at that. "I'm going to go back in. PM and Myself know a little about healing, but I will have to let in the real doctors as soon as they get here. A few of my most trusted friends, your brother is in good hands." She nodded at Dirk, who nodded stiffly back.

Roxy looked at both of them for a moment before realizing what was wrong. They didn't know that Dave was his father, and not his brother. What sort of person lies about being a father? Why bother? Telling Dirk that they were brothers instead of father and son didn't make it any easier to lose him. Instead saying what was on her mind, Roxy quickly blurted out the only other thing she could think of. "I have medicine back at the house, that we've been using for Dirk's injuries. Should I bring that over?"

WQ tilted her head. "Yes, I think that might help. If you could bring all that you could spare...?"

"We can spare all of it!" Dirk said quickly, looking up at her. "I don't need it anymore."

"Yes you do!" Roxy shouted at him, taking both of them by surprise. "You're hurt! I don't care what you say, I won't let you go and get re-injured because you didn't want to take your meds anymore. Please? I don't want to have to worry about you anymore."

Dirk just sighed. "We'll bring what we can spare." WQ nodded and stepped back inside, shutting the door behind her. Dirk leaned back and rested against the door, not taking his eyes off of Roxy. "But I guess this means you know what I was talking about, back on our first day about being together. It's not that I don't like you, that's not it at all, it's just, I can't. I can't fall in love with anyone, because I'm so afraid that the next day they'll be dead. The batter witch didn't just make impossible to live, she made it impossible to love. And let's be honest, I was a bit mad that you were drinking." He gave her a hard look that said, "you jumped the gun at our first meeting, with the whole last two people on earth bit".

Roxy tried to think of a reply to that, but she honestly couldn't think of any sort of argument. Inside that horrible room and bleeding out, Dave was irrefutable proof that they cold die horribly any day. She stood up and stretched her arms out. "I'm not saying that you're wrong Dirk, but I won't say that you're right. Just don't wait until it's to late to decide that you want to live a little before you die."

He regarded this, but didn't say anything. Roxy went to walk away, but he grabbed her arm before she could. "Where are you going?" Dirk asked, sounding very small all of a sudden.

"To get the medicine. Do you want to stay here?" She replied.

"Don't leave me." Dirk replied, standing up to be next to her. "There's nothing I can do by staying here." Roxy nodded, and together they headed back to her house. They took as long as they could, taking streets they normally wouldn't, and stopping by the ocean to watch the sunset. Never once did they let go of each others hands. As they walked Roxy felt better, but Dirk was the exact opposite. He was pale, and by time they reached the house, he was shaking. He tried to laugh it off, but they both knew Roxy wasn't falling for his tough guy act anymore. She laid him down in his bed, and to her surprise he still didn't want to let go. Roxy blushed deeply, but sat with him for almost an hour until he stopped shaking.

"Let's get the medicine and go back. "Roxy said gently, finally taking her hand from his and heading for Rose's dresser where the pills were. She took out the bottle she had created with her machines, and shook out half of the pills, putting them int a new bottle. When Roxy looked up the sort of pills she could give some one with a broken bone, all she got was a list of inflammatory pills and pain killers. She had been giving him Aspirin, which seemed to be doing the job, but maybe she would let the carapace doctors have a look at Dirk when they went back.

Roxy gave two of the pills to Dirk and sent him to the kitchen so he could get a glass of water to go with them. He looked put off, but left none the less. She waited in the front room for him, sitting down on her couch and picking up one of her mom's old wizard books to read while she waited.

A minute rolled by, and then another and another and very suddenly it had been ten minutes and he wasn't back yet. Roxy closed the book and set it back down, standing up so quickly the pill bottle fell from her lap. She bent to pick it up and tied it up in her scarf so it wouldn't get dropped again.

"Dirk?" She called, walking back to the kitchen. She hoped that he had taken the pills and maybe gone to the bathroom or something, but as she walked into the kitchen she saw that the back door was wide open and Dirk was gone. "Oh god dammit." Roxy hissed.

With an angry stride Roxy went back through the house and burst open the front door. He had a good ten minute head start, but Dirk was still injured and she could run. She raced past the black and white homes with their black and white inhabitants, thinking briefly that if she could go faster they would look grey. Everything already felt that way. It took her five minutes to get back to the queen's house and go inside. In the hall she found WQ standing outside the door talking to one of the carapace doctors.

Roxy walked up to her, her anger ebbing away, but still slightly irritated. "Is he-" She started, intending to ask if Dirk was already in the room when the white queen put her thin finger up to her lip. Roxy frowned at her, and then nodded slowly. You couldn't just ignore an order from a queen, even if she isn't yours.

Roxy sat down on the ground next to her, and strained her ears to hear what was going on in the room. WQ gave her a small sad look, and then started walking from the hall, dragging the doctor with her so that Roxy could be alone.

Inside the room there was silence, and then Roxy though she heard Dirk's voice mumble something. She opened the door up a crack, just enough to hear better, but not to grab his attention. She didn't even know why she was doing this. Dirk shouldn't have to be suffering like this alone anymore, but still she remained on the floor.

"Hey... Bro." Came the reply. It was Dave. After all of that, not only was he still alive, but still awake?

"I missed you." Dirk said in a quite voice.

There was a gurgle from the room, and Roxy realized that Dave was laughing. "Striders n't cry." He replied in a gravelly voice.

"Where have you been?" Dirk shot back, but Roxy could hear him hiccuping and rubbing his nose.

"Wiff er imperial consenson." The room went quiet, and Roxy felt her blood run cold. He hadn't just been missing for the past few weeks, he had been held captive by the condescension? "Shesh stopped killen people a ew eers bac. Strted holding em. Held me ut I fink shee let me go."

It was hard to make out what Dave was saying. She stopped killing people a few years back, started holding them? Held me but I think she let me go. What? The Imperial Condesendion was capturing people now? A bit late seeing as there are only three people left Roxy thought bitterly.

It looked like Dirk was thinking the same thing. "Why would she hold people? That doesn't make sense. And why did she let you go?"

"To ssssend uh messege. I sn't only one. She ad others." He started to rasping off the other prisoners, a rather short list of people Roxy didn't recognize, unless he was just pronouncing names wrong. "Jede, Hurly, Ill." He said the last name so low Roxy almost didn't hear it. "Rose." But she did, and she let out a sudden scream.


	6. Chapter 6

Several things happened in quick secession. Roxy clamped her hands over her mouth, as if she could take back the scream. Dirk pulled open the door in surprise, while Dave tried to sit up to see who it was. The effort proved to much for him. His eye rolled back, and he fell back into the bed with a thump, blacked out. Dirk turned back to his brother, letting out a fearful yelp, and Roxy stood up to say something. Before that could happen WV came running down the hallway screaming at the top of his lungs that they were under attack.

And then they all froze as they heard a roar.

Dirk took one last fleeting look at his brother, a mix of fear and desperation on his face, and then turned to Roxy. She was just as scared as he was, and she grabbed his arm. "That wasn't a drone."

"That was a lusus." Dirk said gravely. "I saw one once, long before I even met you. I was just barely old enough to remember, it was a terrible white monster. We almost didn't get away." He froze, as if the memory still gave him the chills. "But it didn't sound anything like what we just heard. We need to see what we're dealing with. WV stay with my bro!" He shouted at the carapace, who nodded in return.

Dirk ran out the front door, pulling Roxy with him. She wasn't quite sure what she was expecting, maybe panic or disorder, or even the monster, but when they ran outside there was nothing. No carapaces, no beast, not even a seagull flying in the sky.

"Don't let the calm fool you." Dirk said quickly, as if reading her mind. "It's probably hiding somewhere."

As if on cue there was a loud crash from a few streets down. Bits of wreckage rained down around them, Dirk pushed Roxy against the wall, shielding her with his body. The worst of it missed them completely, and Dirk only received a small cut to his arm. They both looked up from the spot they were hiding in, and froze in horror.

The creature was a huge white goat, with eyes that looked like two balls of purple fire. It was crunching a home in half, the bits falling to the ground underneath it. No, Roxy realized, not the ground. The sea. The thing had created a hole in the city, just by swimming in from underneath. Almost as if trying to prove her right, it splashed it's fish tail down, taking another house with it.

Suddenly Roxy was tugging on Dirk's hand. "We need to go." She whispered, scared that it would be able to hear her if she was any louder. "We can't fight this thing."

"We have to try." Dirk hissed back, but allowed himself to be tugged along. They were headed back to Roxy's house, but in a rather roundabout way. Roxy didn't want it crashing through WQ's house, and certainly not PM's.

"Fine." Roxy replied, though she knew they had no chance. Maybe if they could make it to one of her rifles she could hurt it from a distance. She shook her head as she ran. The city wasn't big enough to get away from something that size. Still, she scaled a trash can and jumped onto a random roof, pulling the gun hidden there from underneath a panel.

Dirk climbed up next to her. They could still see the monster, it was hard not to. The thing was a few hundred feet away, moving slowly further from them, but it was obvious the only thing on it's mind was destruction. It wasn't going to leave, it was going to stay until it had killed everyone. "Can you hit it?"

Roxy nodded. "But can I kill it?" she replied.

Dirk frowned at her and took his sunglasses off. Roxy had forgotten how much she loved how orange his eyes were. He drew the sword from it's holster on his hip. "We might as well try. Either way, we might lose everything."

Roxy frowned. "It seems like that's how I've been deciding how I do anything recently. Which option will cause me to lose the least?" Still she laid down in a prone position and took aim with the rifle. She let herself get lost in the hunt. She watched the lusus move, predicting where it would go. She felt the wind, seeing if it would affect her aim at all. The entire time Dirk stood still and silent above her. She smiled.

Finally Roxy let go of her breath a fired. The rifle went off with a loud crack, and several hundred feet away the lusus jerked forward suddenly, the bullet striking it in the back of it's head.

Roxy let out a triumphant whoop, which was quickly cut short. The creature planted it's monstrous hoof in the ground and stood back up, a small trickle of purple blood moving down it's neck. It let out a furious roar and started toward them. Before either of them could move, it jumped forward and slid back into the ocean. There was a loud splash, and then every trace of it was gone.

Dirk pulled Roxy to her feet so fast she dropped the gun. "We need to run, now!" He shouted. She nodded quickly and they jumped from the roof together, hitting the ground hard and rolling forward. Roxy sprang to her feet followed closely by Dirk and they ran. Neither of them were quite sure where they were going, or if there was anywhere they could to get away from the goat.

Roxy took the lead since she knew the city better. She tore down the street, suddenly deciding where she was going. There was a big building a few streets over with a metal floor. It was used for storing some of the better equipment the carapaces had, and it just might keep them safe from the lusus.

Just as she turned the corner the ground shook beneath her. She and Dirk were thrown from their feet as the lusus broke through the ground where they had just been. It roared at nothing in particular before realizing that the teens were gone. It looked around furiously, but Roxy had rolled into a doorway, dragging Dirk with her. This was not going well for them. Not even close to well.

"Why is this thing chasing us?" Roxy whispered in frustration, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

Dirk wiped the tear away, some how looking calm despite the trouble they were in. "We can't give up."

The monster turned toward them suddenly. It breathed heavily, a few drops of purple blood splashing to the ground underneath it. Then it stomped over the house next to them, crushing it in half.

"Run!" Dirk screamed.

They made it a few steps before the beast swept it's tail at them. It swept away an entire house, and on the backlash it caught Dirk. He went sprawling, his sword clattering to the ground, and fell into one of the cracks. There might have been a splash as he hit the water, but it was lost in the sound of the goat destroying another home.

Roxy let out a scream, trying to run forward to see if she could see him, but found a white hoof in her way. She instead grabbed the sword and jumped back, holding up like she had seen Dirk do, even though she knew she was rubbish with a blade. The goat gave a wheezing noise, and Roxy swore it was laughing at her.

"Give him back!" Roxy screamed in fury, swiping the blade at the leg in front of her. More purple blood sprayed the ground, and the creatures wheeze turned to a roar of fury. She fell back in surprise, still holding the blade weakly above her. She couldn't think of anything as the hoof was raised above her.

Suddenly something gold shot from the crack that Dirk fell own, impaling the goat in the head. It's furious roar was cut short and it fell over with another thunderous crash. Roxy stared at the thing that killed the goat. It was a trident. Her blood ran cold. She had never seen a real one before, but she knew what a trident was. Everyone did. It was the weapon the condescension used.

Roxy stood up and brushed her knees, and noticed that she was bleeding a little bit. She rubbed her hands on her scarf just as a figure jumped up through the same crack the trident had come from. Roxy stared at the girl. In her arms was Dirk, who was soaking wet and appeared to be unconscious. He had lost his sunglasses, but somehow, the girl holding him was more important. She was more human than the carapaces were, but just barely. Her skin was light grey, and she had fins on the side of her head. Her teeth were sharp and pointed, and Roxy could see all of them in her smile. She had yellow horn on the top of her head. Roxy's breath caught in her throat. Could this be the empress? She wondered in horror.

the girl gently laid Dirk down and pushed up her goggles, revealing yellow eyes and magenta irises. She tugged at her black wet suit and walked toward the goat. Roxy stared at the pink symbol on her chest, and her pink water shoes.

"I knew that woman wouldn't keep her promise. As soon as I turned my back she sent out that nasty goat. It's a good thing I followed it, or you two would have been goners." The alien said suddenly, in a high pitched voice. She stepped on the lusus's head and pulled her trident out, splattering blood everywhere.

Roxy finally tore her eyes away from the girl, and remembered that Dirk was injured. "Dirk!" she screamed, rushing to where he lay. He was bleeding badly from a cut on his forehead, and there was thin trickle coming from his mouth. Without having to check Roxy knew he had internal damage. How was she going to fix something like that?

She pulled him into her lap, hugging him close and sobbing. What did it matter if her mom, his dad, everyone else was still alive, if she lost Dirk now?

"Oh please don't cry, I can help." The girl said quickly, steeping closer.

Roxy didn't know what to say. "Why him? Why couldn't I die."

"No no no." The alien said, putting her finger to her lips and shushing Roxy the best she could. "Neither of you are going to die now!" She papped Roxy on her cheek. "I don't know a whole lot about your alien biology, but I can heal him!"

Roxy stared. The alien coughed lightly. "You're going to need to step back" Reluctently, Roxy set Dirk down and scooted backwards. What else could she lose? The alien held her hands over Dirk's unmoving body, and her hands started to glow a faint green. She pressed her palms against his chest and the glow spread across his body like a catching fire. The entire time Roxy held her breath.

Suddenly Dirk coughed up a mouthful of blood and salt water, and he sat up. The girl withdrew her hands and smiled at them. Roxy was to happy to care about her. She couldn't think of anything to say, and simply tackled Dirk, throwing her arms around him.

He looked at her with surprise, but quickly smiled and hugged her back. "I'm sorry Roxy." He said quietly.

"You're still here, you have no reason to be." Roxy said.

They were quite for a moment, simply glad to both be alive when Roxy remembered that there was somebody else there. She looked up at the alien girl and smiled. "Thank you so much for saving him."

Dirk looked up at her for the first time and gave a start. "Who are you?"

The girl smiled her shark grin at them. "I am the princess of the trolls, the condescension's sister, Feferi Piexes."


	7. Chapter 7

Roxy stared at the troll. "You're the condescension's sister?" She balked.

"Well, not really her sister, but it's almost the human equivalent. Now where is the human she let go? I want to heal him too." Feferi replied, tilting her head slightly. She wasn't quite as regal as her older sister was. She had brightly colored bangles on her arms and around her neck. In fact, Roxy would have never thought she was royalty if not for the golden tiara that sat on her forehead.

"You can heal him?" Dirk asked, unable to hide the hope in his voice. He sat up slowly, before realizing he didn't have to. He felt his ribs. "The one I broke a few days ago, it's fixed!" Dirk gasped.

"Yeah!" Feferi smiled back at him. "It's the least I can do."

As they walked Feferi explained things the best she could. She had lived on their home planet of Alternia until she turned nine sweeps, or about 20 human years. At that age most trolls are sent to various planets to learn their trade. Since Feferi was a princess, she and her partner were sent to help with the destruction of other planets.

But Feferi wouldn't stand for it.

She hated the fact that the empress wanted nothing but to take over the cosmos. Feferi headed straight for the world that her sister was on to challenge her for the throne, which could be done at nine sweeps. When she got here she discovered that the planet was already flooded and past saving. Feferi almost gave up, before realizing the empress had a few human left alive for her own amusement. She demanded the humans be released, and the condescension decided to humor her, letting Dave go. She fully intended the kill him once he was out of Feferi's sight, but she hadn't planned on the boy Feferi brought with her protecting Dave. While Dave was gravely injured, he survived and was brought to the city they suspected other humans were still living at. Again the condescension tried to kill him while Feferi wasn't looking by sending the lusus after him. Feferi commanded her friend to stay and protect the rest of the humans while she hunted the goat down. She would have to go back after Dave was safe. Feferi had a fight with her sister that had to happen.

"I should have done it already. I might have been able to keep Dave from getting injured at all." Feferi finished sadly. They had reached the queen's home ten minutes earlier, but stayed outside listening to her tale with fascination. Roxy had no idea where the queen had come from, and it was incredible learning that not all of her kind were cruel and heartless.

Dirk however, was less impressed by her story. "You're just going to fight your sister? And then what? Do all the people come back to life? Does the earth become un-flooded? That's assuming you do win." He said angrily.

Feferi frowned for the first time Roxy had seen. She shifted her trident around. "I brought my friend from home. He'll help me. I know she brought that mean dragon with her from home, but our mother is still back on Alternia. If I get hurt, mom will be sad and that's an outcome that can't happen. The condescension knows that."

"Mom?" Roxy asked. The word triggered something in the back of her brain and she was suddenly worried. "my mom is one of the humans she has. Can I come with you? I want to help!"

Feferi and Dirk stared at her. Roxy suddenly felt self conscious. She couldn't very well sit still and wait for this princess to save her mom. She had to fight back now that she had the chance, but Roxy had hoped Dirk would be a bit more supportive.

"You want to fight the condescension?" Dirk asked with blatant disbelief. "Your gun couldn't even hurt the lusus, forget the empress of this hell hole."

"No, no you may be able to do something." Feferi disagreed with him. "If you two are good with weapons, you can help out. There's still the dragon that needs to be slayed, along with the drones that guard the palace."

"Is it above ground?" Dirk snorted. Roxy frowned at him. "Look if you two want to discuss this suicide run, you have fun, but I know it's a bad idea. So could you just heal my bro first?"

"Dirk." Roxy argued. "How can you say it's a bad idea, that's my mother!"

"Right, but what's the point if you die trying to save her?" Dirk snapped back. He looked at Roxy's distressed face and he softened. "I know it's hard, but we can't be taking any risks."

Then he turned into the building. Feferi gave Roxy a nervous look, and then followed him. Roxy suddenly found herself completely alone. She looked out at the city. During the attack a good number of the buildings had been crushed. Roxy was terrified for all the carapaces. Most of them didn't like her, but she knew that some of them had died.

Forcing that lovely thought to the back of her head, she tried to figure out what she was going to do about her current situation. Rose, her mother, the woman she had thought dead for seven years, was alive. Rose was at the condescension's temple, with a handful of other humans. How could Dirk not want to help them? They were probably terrified out of their minds, she could only guess what the empress was doing to them. Now that Feferi was here, and the princess could help them. Roxy gulped. She would fight. She had to.

Roxy turned and walked into the home after Dirk and Feferi. WV and WQ were sitting on the couch and looked up when she stepped in. "Did you see Feferi?" WV asked, jumping up to greet her. "I can't believe she's here. I heard about her when I was younger, and now I've met her!"

"You guys know her?" Roxy asked, prying the tiny black carapace off of her.

"Royalty meets." WQ said in a nonchalant way. "And the kinder stay in my mind better."

Roxy nodded, though it seemed a bit strange that WQ and Feferi were friends. WV took her hand and dragged her to Dave's room. She stepped into the room, and watched as the green fire finished spreading over him. The man was tinged for a moment before the fire evaporated.

Dirk looked up at Roxy as she entered. He still looked mad at her, but he was calmer now that his brother was healed. Feferi stood up, and before either human could say anything, left the room. Roxy watched her go, but decided talking to Dave was more important.

On the bed the man was stirring. It looked like he was no longer in any pain, but Feferi was unable to give him back his arm or eye. Roxy briefly wondered if that's why she left. Was she upset she hadn't healed him completely? Dave let a low moan escape his lips and tried to sit up. He quickly realized he was missing something important. He used his hand to trace his hurt eye and shoulder. Dave sat up properly this time, and suddenly seemed to notice Dirk and Roxy were watching him,

"Bro." Dirk said slowly.

"What's up Dirky?" Dave gritted his teeth. He looked up at Roxy, blinking his one good eye. "Roxy? Is that you?"

"Yeah." Roxy replied.

Suddenly Dave was crying. "You're alive." He laughed, rubbing his eye. "Oh god, you're alive. Rose talked asked about you when I met her again. She was so worried. I couldn't do anything for her, because I didn't know, but you're alive."

Roxy didn't know what to say. She smoothed down a ruffle in her skirt nervously. Fortunately Dirk sat on Dave's bed. "Hey bro, Striders don't cry."

** Dave snorted at him, but wiped his eye. "So tell me how you two ended up together."**

** "I washed up here after the drones destroyed our city. Roxy found me and we've been working together sine." Dirk said quickly. "Now explain to use what happened to you."**

** Dave frowned at his son's brashness. "I was covering for you, and the drone's managed to knock me out. When I woke up I was in the condescension's ship." He paused to let that sink in. Roxy had to hold back a shudder. She had seen the empresses ship just once, far off in the distance. A great red floating ship. Immediately PM had come to get her, and they spent the next week hiding in the lab for safety. "I was in a jail cell, but I wasn't alone. There was another man, Bill. He had lost his daughter when the world first got flooded, and just didn't have the heart to go on. After a few days I realized that there were women there too, just in a different cell. We started to communicate with Morse code, and I figured out who all was there. Rose, Harley, and your mom, Jade." **

** Again the room grew quite. Dave's eye widened like he had something wrong. Roxy, who already knew the secret, didn't catch on as quickly as Dirk did. Dirk bristled immediately. **

** "My mom? Not 'our mom'?" He asked. Oh. Roxy stared at the two of them, wondering if she should leave the room. **

** Dave just rubbed his hand through his hair. "Yeah, just your mom I guess. My mom died a long time ago. I'm so sorry Dirk, it was easier to say you were my brother."**

** "Why would you do that?" Dirk said suddenly, getting to his feet. "So what if it was easier to say that. Are you even related to me then?" **

** "He's your dad." Roxy blurted without thinking. Both Dirk and Dave looked up at her with surprise. **

** "You knew and you didn't tell me?" Dirk asked slowly.**

** "I- I didn't realize- I thought you knew." Roxy stuttered. Dirk looked furious. He hadn't even been this angry when he took the alcohol from Roxy when they first met. And while most of it was directed at Dave, Roxy knew he was mad at her too right now. "I'm sorry."**

** "Don't talk to me." Dirk spat, before walking out of the room. **

** Roxy and Dave stared at each other for a moment before Roxy burst into tears. "Oh no, don't cry, he's just had a shock, he'll calm down." Dave said quickly, standing up and giving Roxy an awkward hug. "Rose told you didn't she?" **

** Roxy nodded into his shirt, which was still a bit bloody. "I didn't really understand it either, but I thought you two were dead, I didn't want to think about you." She sobbed.**

** Dave sat back down, like the brief human contact had exhausted him. "Rose is alive. You're alive. Jade, my Jade is alive. I need to save her. Them." He muttered, almost more to himself than to Roxy.**

** "Feferi said she could help us." Roxy said suddenly. "She could help us beat the condescension!" **

** "Feferi is here?" Dave asked. "She was the one who convinced the empress to let me go. If she's helping we might just stand a chance. Just you wait Roxy, we'll save everyone." **

** Roxy thought about what Dirk said. Would he change his mind if he knew his brother was going to help? She looked at the man sitting on the bed, and suddenly wondered how much of a help he could be with just one eye and arm. Dave was weaving his head slightly, trying to make up for his narrowed range of vision. She was suddenly overwhelmed with the impossibility of the situation. **

** Then Feferi stepped into the room. She looked at the two of them, concern clear on her face. "I wanted to leave so you two could have your reunion in peace, but the Dirk boy just ran off. Why was he so upset?" **

** "Family secret." Dave muttered. **

** Feferi tilted her head at him, but shrugged. "I need to go back to the ship. I will send word in one weeks time, that is when we fight, whether you are helping or not." She turned to leave the room. "And I do so hope you will help me." **

** The princess left, leaving Roxy feeling overwhelmed. A month ago all she did was get drunk and play video games. Now she was going to save her mom from the condescension, while making Dirk hate her in the process. It was all to much. **


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm sorry."

Dirk was waiting for Roxy when she got back home that night. He sat on her bed like he belonged there. To be honest, he looked more comfortable there than Roxy ever did. She stared at him in surprise for a few moments, before smiling and giving him a big hug. It felt nice being able to that, since Feferi healed his broken ribs. They fell onto the bed giggling. Dirk hugged her back, burying his face into her hair.

"I'm sorry too I-" Roxy started.

"No, I got mad for no reason. We promised to stick together and I'm doing a horrible job of it. What does it matter who he is, as long as he's alive and back with me." Dirk cut her off. "With us."

Roxy leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "I guess this means we'll just have to look after him too." She smiled. Dirk smiled back at her, his orange eyes glowing. Then she remembered the promise she made Feferi, and her stomach twisted uncomfortably.

She was trying her best to make nice with Dirk, but how would he feel if he knew she planned on going to save her mom? She could just ignore the issue, but when she left in a week with no warning he would be worried sick. Dirk had already made his feelings known, how was she going to get him to understand?

The next morning the both of them went to visit Dave, who was still staying with the white queen. She said she would be fine with letting him stay with her, but Dave was fine and ready to move out. He sounded like he was WQ's teenage son, ready to fly the coop.

When Dirk admitted he was fine with Dave being his dad, Dave swept him up in the biggest hug Roxy had ever seen a one armed man give. Though, Dave was the only one armed man she knew. He pulled Roxy into the hug too, and for one split second the world was a happy wonderful place.

But like all good things, it had to end. Dave let go of them and adopted a serious expression. Instantly Roxy knew the inevitable had arrived. "What are we going to do about the rest of the people the condescension has?"

Dirk shook his head. "I think the only thing we can do is wait." He waved aside Roxy and Dave's protests. "I don't mean let them die, but that troll who was here yesterday said she was going to fight her sister. I think we should see how that goes. She maybe able to free them without having to put us in danger."

Dave frowned. "There are to many variables to say anything for sure. What if Feferi loses and the empress just kills everyone out of spite? Also, she knows where we are, why hasn't she tried to kill us more actively?"

The front door opened then and WQ stepped in. "I can answer that." she said, and then let in another guest.

"You're friggen welcome." The troll boy said as he surveyed them. He was taller than WQ by a whole head, not including his jagged horns. He had short, pointed black hair, with a purple stripe in the front. Unlike Feferi, he wasn't dressed for swimming. Instead he wore pinstripe pants, a long sleeve black shirt, a striped scarf and a cape. However, Roxy was more interested in his rifle. "I'm Eridan Ampora, you better start grovelin."

"Nice gun." Roxy exclaimed and leaned over the couch to get a better look.

"I don't like him." Dirk said instantly, pulling Roxy back.

"Well I don't like you either, but big flippen whoop, Fef asked me to be here so I am cus I have this huge heart." Eridan snarked back at him, hoisting his gun up. WQ gave him a dirty look, and then stalked off for her room.

"Feferi sent you to guard us?" Dave asked hesitantly. Roxy knew that he was questioning Eridan's intentions, but WQ had let him in and Roxy trusted the queen's judgment. If she let Eridan in, he was worth trusting. Liking was a completely different matter.

"Fef told me to keep you glubbin safe alright?" The troll boy said in a way that suggested he was just as unhappy about it as they were. He shifted his gun, and his face took on a softer expression, and Roxy realized that as much as he complained he would do anything for Feferi. He was in love, or whatever the troll equivalent was.

Roxy spent the rest of the evening watching Dirk, Dave, and Eridan argue about anything and everything. The snapped at each other because of sea pollution, because of of how Feferi had saved Dirk, they even argued about role playing games and which one was best. Apparently Eridan was a decent pirate back on his home world. If there ever were such a thing. By the end of the night Dirk was in a fix, Roxy was crying she was laughing so hard, and Eridan and Dave were having a duel. All in all, not a single thing was accomplished, and Roxy was secretly relieved for that.

The next morning she woke up before sunrise in a cold sweat. Roxy had a nightmare, something about her mom and Dirk and Dave, but in seconds it evaporated, leaving her with nothing but a sense of dread. She rubbed her face and hopped into the shower scrubbing away the rest of her nightmare. The scalding water hit her skin, warming her to the core. There was nothing better than a hot shower to wipe away her fear. The steam curled out into the bathroom, fogging her mirror. After what was close to half an hour, Roxy got out. At the very least, the sun was up now. She patted herself off and wrapped the towel around her hair before walking for her room.

Instead she stepped into the hallway and locked eyes with Dirk who was holding a cup of steaming something and a shocked expression on his face.

"Roxy?" Dirk cried in surprise.

Shit. What was he doing up this early? Roxy quickly jumped back into the bathroom, slipping on the wet floor and falling over. Fortunately her towel kept her from getting hurt. Roxy had completely forgotten Dirk was living with her now, she had just walked into the hallway with out any clothes on. And he had seen her. Her face flushed deep red, and she pressed her cheek to the floor.

"Are you ok?" Dirk asked, waving his hand in front of the door to indicate he wasn't looking.

"Fine!" Roxy screeched, pulling the towel off her hair and over her body. She didn't want to get up ever again. She wanted to just curl up and die right there on the bathroom floor in nothing but a towel.

"I uh," Dirk stuttered as he glanced in to make sure she was decent. He saw that she had pulled the towel down and stepped in, kneeling down beside her. "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to see you." He muttered, holding out a hand to help her up.

Instead Roxy covered her face with her hands. "I forgot you were here." She managed to mutter.

Dirk bit his lip. "Look it doesn't matter. I can-" He shifted his foot slightly and slipped as well, knocking foreheads with Roxy.

Ouch!" Roxy shouted at him, sitting up and putting her hand to her forehead, using the other to keep the towel up. He looked up at her, both of his hand pressed to his forehead as well. He grinned sheepishly at her, and suddenly they were both laughing. Without warning Roxy leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

There was terrifying moment when he tensed, but just as quickly Dirk relaxed, and kissed her back. He put his hand behind her head, as if he was trying to pull her closer. Roxy felt her insides melt. Where did he learn to kiss like this? She pulled back, almost completely giddy. She was sure her blush was much worse than it had been.

Dirk smiled at her. "Feel better?"

"lots better." Roxy giggled. He gave another quick kiss and pulled her up.

"What are we up to today?" Dirk asked her.

Roxy tied her towel up so It wouldn't slip, the stretched her arms. "I have no idea, but I think I want to get dressed first." She replied, walking back into the hall.

"Oh right." Dirk agreed. "I'll just be in the living room then."

The second his back was turned Roxy ran for her room, collapsing on her bed in a fit of giggles. He kissed her. Dirk had kissed her back! She curled up on her bed, completely naked, just hugging her pillow. Roxy swept her wet blonde hair up into a tiny ponytail and got dressed, occasionally touching her lips just to feel them tingle.

She went to find Dirk, who told her that he wanted to try shooting again. Roxy found this rather weird, but shrugged and took him out to the range. Even though his injuries were healed his aim didn't improve in the slightest. Roxy helped him with his form some, but by sun down she was simply taking the rifle from him and shooting the targets herself. They walked home laughing about what a bad shot Dirk was.

She walked back into the kitchen, and was surprised to find that, well, everyone was there. Dave sat at the table, trying to look cool but he kept glaring at Eridan, who was talking animatedly to WQ. WV and AR were in the fridge, while PM stood behind them, waving her hands nervously like she wasn't sure they should be eating the food. Roxy pulled her scarf down. "What's going on here?"

They all looked up at her suddenly. "You don't know?" Dave asked her from where he sat.

"I, what?" Roxy asked.

"Today is your birthday!" Dave reminded her with a smile. Roxy gasped, she hadn't been paying attention to the day in the least. Rose must have told Dave when her birthday was back when everyone was a big group. Before everything had gone to hell.

"I baked a cake!" WV said excitedly as he exited the fridge, his arms full of Tab soda. Roxy looked up to the counter and saw that there was indeed a cake. It looked sloppily made, the pink icing was falling off the side, but it was possibly the best cake Roxy had ever seen. Tears filled the corner of her eyes, and she pulled the carapaces into a big hug.

One by one the guests came forward and congratulated Roxy. She supposed the were just as happy as she that another year had gone by and she was still alive. Eridan told her to have a happy 'wrigglin day' which was odd, but he was trying. Dirk gave her a quick peck on the cheek, but quickly pulled back like he was embarrassed. Dave sat back in his chair, complaining about having to eat his cake with one hand, and trying to seem chill about everything at the same time.

Sometime during the night Roxy brought the alcohol out. Almost everyone was against it (Eridan was impartial, as he had never had it before and had no idea what it would do.) but in the end Roxy convinced them it would be fine. The carapaces were light weights, and soon WQ, who had refused to drink, was herding the group to their home. Dirk passed out under the kitchen table, while Eridan laughed at him. In the middle of a laugh the troll boy passed out himself, his fins twitching.

Roxy was barely getting started, but before she could challenge Dave he pulled her outside. She followed him in confusion. She was slightly tipsy, but not so bad that she couldn't tell he was nervous.

"Dave?" She asked, swaying on her feet. "what's wrong dad?"

"I was waiting for Dirk to go to sleep to talk to you, I don't want him to hear this." Dave started, but then stopped suddenly. "And I'm not your dad. Anyway, I talked that nice AR bloke into letting me have the parts from the robots that you two destroyed. I'm making a vehicle to get us to the condescension's ship in a week."

Roxy snapped out of her stupor. "You, you're going to go behind Dirk's back and do this?" She gasped.

"The love of my life is imprisoned. What's here may be good enough for Dirk, but I won't feel like I'm living until I have her back. This is more important to me than life itself." Dave replied. Then he sighed and put his hand on Roxy's shoulder. "Just don't tell him alright? I don't want him to get upset."

"He's going to be upset regardless." Roxy pointed out. "No matter what." The feeling of dread suddenly filled her again. She tried to think of something she could do to get her mom back and not risk anyone's life. Nothing came to her. There was no happy outcome in her future.

"Happy birthday. You're an adult now, so make up your mind. " Dave said, before heading back into the kitchen. Roxy stared up at the full moon, hanging high in the middle of the sky.

"What do I do?" She asked no one in particular. Only silence answered her.


	9. Chapter 9

Roxy found herself wandering around the city the next day. She passed the courtyard where the drones had almost killed Dirk. Very few carapaces were there, and when she arrived they all but disappeared. The drones were gone too, which puzzled her until she remembered Dave took them. She kept walking. Next she came across a house that had been stomped flat by the lusus. There was no police tape around this one, AR must not have gotten to it yet. Roxy carefully stepped around broken glass and bits of some poor carapaces possessions. Where the doorstep should have been was a bouquet of ocean lilies. An odd flower the empress brought with her, that the carapaces used to mark the death of a loved one. Roxy stared down at the lily, letting tears fall silently down her cheek.

"Did you know the beetle that lived here?" Roxy jumped as Eridan walked up from her left, his hands in his pockets. He didn't have his gun on him, which Roxy thought odd, but she didn't say anything as he picked up one of the lilies.

"No." Roxy responded, watching him wearily. He didn't seem any worse for wear from all the drinking he had done the night before. Weird alien biology? She wondered, and promptly decided she wanted to be a troll if it meant she'd never have another hang over.

Eridan picked apart the lily. "What's the use? It's not like they can glubbin come back. I know that for shore." He dropped the bald stem with the rest of the flowers.

"It's in memory. No one is trying to bring them back, at least not in the way you're thinking of. They just want to make sure the person they lost isn't forgotten." Roxy replied, stepping forward and pulling Eridan back before he could destroy any more of the flowers.

Eridan allowed himself to be pulled away, but after a moment he tugged his arm out of the teenage girl's grip. "Yeah, yeah I get it. But still, what happens after we die? What happens to their memory then? Nothin. We just wash away like the tide, like were never there."

Roxy frowned at him. Who had he lost, that made him this upset? She wondered. "Everyone leaves a trace. I just hope there will be someone to remember me when I'm gone. " Roxy replied, holding her hand out to the alien boy.

Eridan eyed her hand wearily, as if he was afraid of it, but finally he took it. She started leading him back to the house, trying to get him to tell her about his home world. Instead he asked her something."It must be hard, bein the last of your kind. How do you live?"

Roxy stopped and stared at him. "I'm not the last."

Eridan shrugged. "I have this funny ability of knowin when someone's given up all hope. You're on the edge of a big chasm, just one more push to put you in to the void."

"Stop!" Roxy said angrily, taking her hand back. "I have plenty of hope." She snarled. He gave her a sympathetic look, and she realized that he was right. Wasn't she terrified out of her mind about the future? Hadn't she just said last night that there was no way her story would have a happy ending? She glared at Eridan, but he was well aware of her insecurities.

Eridan tossed his scarf over his should and continued to walk without her. "If it's any constellation, I gave up my hope three sweeps ago." He said shortly.

That caught her attention. "You gave up hope? On what."

"Fef." Eridan snorted. "We've been the palest of pals since I can remember, but I had hoped for the longest time we could be something more. But she found a boyfrond in this, yellow blood." He spit the word out like it was a cuss word. "She'll never think of meas anything more than her best frond."

"Oh, so you're stuck in the friend zone." Roxy said without thinking. Having just recently broken that barrier, she knew exactly how he was feeling. "That's awful Eridan. You're a reely good guy for being here."

He laughed suddenly. "Did you just say reely?"

"I meant really." Roxy said quickly, not sure why it was so funny.

"I like fish puns is all." Eridan smiled. Roxy found herself smiling back. After you got past the fact Eridan was completely full of himself, he was actually a pretty good guy. But just as quickly he turned away from her. "Sorry I'm unloadin all my problems on you."

"It's fine." Roxy smiled. She figured he didn't have any one else to talk to, and while it didn't help her it was helping someone, so she was glad for it. They finished their walk home making small chit chat, but Roxy suddenly felt like the troll boy was a friend, rather than an insufferable prick like she first thought he was.

Dirk was sitting at the kitchen table, a ginger ale in one hand. The other hand hung loosely under the table, and his bright orange eyes looked blood shot. Roxy smiled sympathetic at him, her poor baby was hungover for the first time in his life.

He looked up as they walked in, tousling his spiky blonde hair. "Hey troll whatce doin with my MY woman?" He asked, giving a little hiccup at the end. The hand that hung loosely was suddenly back on the table, and it was holding onto a bottle of dragon fruit Bacardi. He was not hungover, he was drunk.

"What on earth are you doing?" Roxy cried in surprise, taking the bottle from him. "You don't drink while you have a hangover, you will kill your liver!" She said angrily, ignoring the fact that that was all she did before he got there.

"Daaaaaved shaid it wuld make my brain ache less." Dirk slurred, sitting up and taking a swig of ginger ale as his alcohol was now gone. "Itsh not workin that shwell." Then he pointed at Eridan. "Don't think I'll forget thish."

"Shh." Roxy put her finger to her lips. "He's in the friend zone with Feferi." She said quietly.

Dirk's eyes widened. He looked at Eridan with a new found respect, while the sea dweller rolled his eyes at the both of them. "That's rough buddy. If you ever need to talk to me man, yourre free too."

"Thanks, I'll remember that. Not." Eridan laughed harshely before stalking back outside.

Dave passed him on the way in, wearing a brand new red shirt. It had long sleeves, and the one that had no arm in it hung loosely. It was kinda creepy Roxy decided. "What was that? I need to give a high five to who ever pissed of Eridumb."

"Man don say that!" Dirk replied quickly. "Hesh in the friend zone."

"Harsh." Dave replied taking a seat next to his son. "Sit up, Strider's don't let hangovers get the best of them."

"Eridumb? How old are you, five?" Roxy snapped.

"Forty five and still this hot thanks for asking." Dave smiled back at her. "And it's still funny."

"I hope I'm not like you when I get to that age." Roxy sighed.

"If you get to be this old, you may be whatever you like." Dave smiled, tipping his drink at her.

"I'm going to be shick." Dirk interrupted, putting his hand to his mouth. Roxy and Dave looked at each other terrified. Dave held out his fist, and Roxy stared for a second before doing the same. She pulled a rock while Dave pulled paper. He laughed triumphantly as Roxy rushed to Dirk's side and helped him to his feet. She half dragged, half lead him to the bathroom, praying he didn't get sick on the floor because she would have to clean it.

Fortunately he waited until she was practically shoving his head in the toilet bowl to be sick. Roxy grimace and patted his back, waiting for the heaves to subside. After a minute he wiped his mouth and sat up. He looked like he had just been to hell. Roxy frowned, she had forgotten how bad her first hangover was.

"You musht really love me, to deal wit this." Dirk gasped, keeping one hand over his mouth.

"Just now putting that together?" Roxy asked. "No more kisses for you until you wash your mouth. Four times. Maybe just once, no three times. At least." She decided. Dirk gave her a pained smile, before leaning over and throwing up into the toilet again.

"True love." Roxy muttered.

After he was feeling better Roxy told Dirk to take a shower and go to bed for the rest of the day. He protested, but when Dave offered to help him Dirk decided he could take a shower by himself. Instead Roxy talked to Dave abut the rescue. The more they talked the more she felt like it was a bad idea.

The condescension's ship was a scary place to be, and going to it on purpose was unheard of. It was easily the length of ten football fields, and painted a candy red color. Inside was no less terrifying than the outside. Drones roomed the corridors, occasionally destroying each other for the fun of it. Dave had seen enough fights to know the ones on the ship were the best of the drones. The prisons were directly under the throne room, boys in one cell, girls in the other. Dave was brought before the condescension on the day he was released. She told him formally that he was free to go, but not one single person in the room was fooled by her act. Feferi distracted her sister while Eridan went after Dave.

While he was trying to find a safe way down from the ship, he was jumped by a two mouthed cat lusus, losing his eye and arm to it's fierce claws. Before it could kill him Eridan shot it through the head, olive blood spraying the ship's deck. Eridan didn't know what to do with Dave, except drop him off with the one carapace he knew on the entire planet. Feferi's good friend, the white queen.

"She should have picked anyone but me." Dave chuckled darkly as he took a swig for the Bacardi bottle. "I was the strongest one there, the only one who could have made it out alive. And now I'm, the only one can save them."

Roxy frowned at him. Why couldn't anything her life ever be simple? Instead of arguing with him Roxy stood up and wandered further into her house. Dave let her go, ignoring her in favor of his drink. She walked down the long hallways, no particular destination in mind. Roxy passed the room where Dirk slept off his hangover, passed Rose's old room, and then passed her own room. Without really meaning to, she found herself in the lab. Everything was glowing softly green. Before it had been comforting to Roxy, but now the light just cast everything in a sickly glow. She walked up to the controls that Rose had first discovered, and that Dirk learned how to use so quickly. She hit the button, thinking she would just destroy whatever pumpkin came up to relieve stress.

To her surprise there was a flash of green and a small pill bottle appeared on the pad. Roxy sighed and walked toward it. She couldn't even screw up right! Roxy picked up the bottle and read the label. Sleeping pills. She raised an eyebrow. Sleeping pills? The last thing she had appearified was Dirk's pain pills, so she had guessed it would be medicine, but what could she do with sleeping pills? She turned the bottle over in her hands and glanced at the instructions. Affective thirty min after consumption, keeps you asleep for up to five full hours blah blah blah...

Roxy froze. Five hours? She wrapped the bottle in her scarf and ran from the room, out into the courtyard. "Eridan!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, not sure of where he would be. She raced toward WQ's house, hoping he would be there. Just as she reached the front door there was a shout from behind her.

"What do you want?" Eridan asked in his nasally voice. He was approaching her from one of the side streets, his scarf flapping widely as the wind picked up. He wasn't wearing his cape though.

Roxy felt the tiny bottle hidden away in her scarf and gulped. "How, how long will it take to defeat the condescension?"

Eridan looked at her with confusion. "How long? Let's sea, Fef is waitin for the ship to get here so we don't have to far to travel. So maybe when it's an hour away. Then the fight, well, the fight should be to long either. Maybe we'll be gone for three hours if everyfin goes well. Five hours tops."

"I'm going with you." Roxy decided quickly. "Just give me an hour to get ready."

"It's not for another few days, but alright. I can do that. Why? What do you have planned?" Eridan asked her suspiciously.

Roxy felt the bottle again. She looked up at Eridan's eyes. His eyes were yellow just like Feferi's, but his irises were a light purple that matched the stripe in his hair. "Don't worry about it." She said, turning to walk back home. For the first time in a month, Roxy had a plan.


	10. Chapter 10

The rest of the week passed slowly. Though the four of them were hospitable, it was obvious that tension was high. Eridan spent as much time by himself that he could muster. Dave would wake up earlier than everyone else and disappear to who knows where. One morning Roxy woke up early enough to follow him out of the house. He headed straight for the abandoned drone factory, and Roxy realized he must be building something to get to the queen's ship. She and Dirk stopped trying to find him.

Roxy spent most of her free time with Dirk. The played some of her favorite video games, they went diving with Eridan, and occasionally they experimented with the apperarifier. Roxy accidentally made another set of mutant cats, while Dirk managed to appearify a horse. He named it Maplehoof, but Roxy was mad beyond belief. What on earth were they going to do with a horse? I n the end they let WV have the horse, though it just roamed around the city as it pleased.

Every now and then Roxy would ask to be alone. She told Dirk she wanted to read, or play on single player, anything to get some time to herself. Instead she went to the kitchen and crushed up the sleeping pills. She tested putting it in various drinks or foods, trying to find the best way to give it to the boys without their noticing. As it turned out the faygo dissolved the pills best. She made a big bottle of it and hid it away.

One day, near the end of the week, the sirens went off, signaling an oncoming patrol of drones. The poor robots had no idea what hit them. Before they even reached the city, half of them had been taken out but Eridan's gun. Roxy was impressed by it's power, and begged to have a chance to shoot it. Eridan grudgingly handed it over. With one shot Roxy destroyed the rest of the drones just as they reached the first home. Both Dave and Dirk complained about not getting to fight, but Roxy could tell they were just as glad as she was.

The destruction of the drones had an unexpected result. As Roxy headed home that night one of the carapaces she had never met before ran up to her, and thanked her for protecting the city. After that a few more came up to talk to her, slowly at first, until suddenly almost everyone wanted to meet her. Roxy and Dirk were overwhelmed, but it was exciting to finally be accepted by the majority of the population.

That night Roxy couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned thinking about all the bad things that could go wrong. What if Dirk and Dave didn't fall asleep? What if something went wrong and she didn't get back in time? What if something happened to Rose? Roxy put her pillow over her head and tried to black out the thought. Rose would be fine, she had to be. Roxy hadn't seen her mom in twelve long years, and now she only had to wait two more days.

"Roxy?" She sat up in her bed. Dirk stood in her doorway, in just his boxers and a wife beater. "I couldn't sleep, I had a nightmare." He admitted slowly. "Can I sleep here?"

Roxy gave her pillow a squeeze. "Sure." She whispered.

He scratched his hair and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I just, every time I fall asleep I dream that you're gone, and I wake up scared." Dirk said. Roxy blushed, not wanting to tall him that she was worrying about something else. Instead Roxy scooted to the far side of the bed so that he would have somewhere to lay down. There was barely enough room for two people, and once he did lay down their arms were touching. Dirk gave a small laugh, and turned on side his, pulling her close.

"Yeah, this should make it easy to fall asleep." He murmured into her hair. She felt her breath catch in her throat as he wrapped his arms around her a refused to let go. The curves of her body seemed to fit perfectly with his, and she decided that this was all she wanted out of life. His breath on her neck quickly became soft and regular, meaning he had already fallen asleep.

She entwined her fingers in his, and feeling terrible about what she would do to him soon, drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep.

Roxy woke up the next morning alone. The bed was still warm though, Dirk must have just gotten up. She yawned and stretched her arms out. Roxy then stepped over to her dresser and took her shirt off.

"Hey Roxy I made coffee- Geez!" Dirk stepped into the room and jumped back into the hall so fast he spilled some of the coffee. "You have got to stop doing that!"

"Getting dressed in my own room?" Roxy snapped back, covering her chest when she heard the door open. It wasn't nearly as embarrassing as the first time he saw her naked. At least she didn't trip and hurt her head. She sighed and tugged a bra on, along with one of her pink shirts with a white cat on it. A black skirt went on next, and finally she wrapped her pink and purple scarf around her neck.

"Here." Dirk said, looking a little red around the ears. "I made coffee."

"Why thank you." Roxy replied, taking the cup from him. She gave him a quick kiss which he returned in earnest, putting his hand on her hip. Roxy felt her heart beat a little faster, but she pulled back suddenly. It hurt, knowing she was about to do something he didn't want her to do. Instead she sipped the drink. She normally didn't like coffee, but Dirk made it with more creme than normal and it was actually pretty good.

Dirk followed her back to the kitchen where Dave was helping himself to the half empty pot of coffee. "Who are you again?" Dirk asked, rolling his eyes and sitting down at the table. Roxy sat next to him.

"Funny." Dave replied, taking a long drink of the coffee. "Bleh that's sweet."

"Oh go drink your own coffee then." Dirk frowned at him.

"Nah." Dave smiled, taking another sip. He took the mug with him when he left that day. Dirk and Roxy walked to the edge of the city, looking out at the endless ocean sadly.

"Eridan!" Roxy called, but the troll boy never showed up. "Guess we're not going diving today." Roxy sighed looking back at Dirk.

"We could still go fishing." He suggested. They had traded a few of the mutant cats for a fishing pole set from one of the carapaces. How a carapace had ended up with a fishing pole set was beyond them, but they were glad for it at least. They had made several good meals out of the fish they caught. Roxy was to squeamish to actually kill or gut the fish, so that was Dirk's job. In turn she cooked them.

After they had a bucket full of wriggling bass, Dirk and Roxy walked back home to cook dinner. To their surprise, Dave was waiting for them in the living room. He was playing a skateboarding game on the tv screen, though he wasn't doing very well.

"Hey love birds, what's for lunch? I'm starving." He called, not even looking up from the screen.

Dirk raised an eyebrow. "Well first of all it's dinner time. Second of all what are you doing home so early?"

"Why?" Dave looked up and wiggled his eyebrows. "I could leave if you need me to."

Roxy blushed furiously, while Dirk threw a fish at his dad's face. "You know exactly what I mean." He snapped, but when Roxy looked at him she found he was blushing too.

"I'm done with that. I just want to spend time with you now." Dave replied.

Dirk was quiet for a moment, and Roxy looked at him, concern on her face. "That's fine." Dirk said finally, hoisting the bucket of fish up and heading for the kitchen.

Done? Roxy wondered. He gave up on making something out of the robot parts, or he had finished? She decided not to press the matter, she didn't want the boys to fight when tomorrow was the big day. Roxy put the fishing poles away and walked out to the roof while Dirk killed the fish. She hated killing, and wanted to have no part of the act.

She sat down on the ledge facing the sea. That first night Dirk had been there she almost fell over the edge in a drunk stupor, but he had saved her. She kicked her legs in frustration. It was her turn to do the saving.

Suddenly there was a plash and she looked down. Eridan looked up at her from the waves, his dark hair slicked back, his scarf drifting about like seaweed. "Roxy." He said urgently.

"Eridan?" Roxy asked in confusion, looking down at him. He wasn't wearing his cape. "What's going on? Where have you been all day?"

"I got an emergency message from Feferi. The condescension figured out what we were up too, and is here tonight. We need to leave if we're still going." He said.

Roxy felt her stomach twist uncomfortably. "Tonight?" She whispered.

"I'll be right back." Eridan said, jerking his head behind him. "Meet me back here when the sun goes down."

And with that he sank below the waves. For a second all she could see was his fluttering scarf and his bright yellow horns, and then he was gone. She stared at the place where the dark water had swallowed him. Tonight? Her heart started to beat uncomfortably fast. This was it. She had to save her mom.

Trying to keep her calm Roxy walked back to the kitchen. She didn't want the boys to realize something was wrong. Dave was still sitting at the table, while Dirk was at the stove, getting the fish started. He looked up when Roxy walked in and smile at her.

"Hey! I started without you, that's ok right?" He asked. Roxy smiled lightly back at him.

"Sure." she said in a restrained way. She winced, but neither boy seemed to notice. Roxy reached into the refrigerator and took out the bottle of orange faygo. She poured each of the boys a glass, but then got herself water.

Dirk served up the fish and they ate in relative quiet. Roxy watched, barely picking at her food, as the boys drank the entirety of their glasses. She felt nervous until ten minutes later she saw Dave yawn. She took another bite of her fish. Dirk wasn't as good at cooking them as she was, and she had to pick out a bone.

Dirk yawned suddenly. "I think it's time for bed, I'm wiped." He said. Dave pushed away his half eaten plate of fish and nodded in agreement. Roxy let out a breath of relief as they both got up and put their dishes in the sink.

"You coming?" Dirk asked. He looked like he was falling asleep on the spot. Even though Roxy was careful about how much of the powder she put in, she was suddenly afraid she overdosed them.

"Just a minute. You go ahead." Roxy replied. She twirled the fork in her hand as they left. She glanced out the window. The sky was a bright orange as the sun was slowly setting. Roxy set down the fork.

She walked into her room and saw Dirk laying on the bed. He turned to look at her, his hair messy and his eyelids dropping.

"Roxy I'm worried about you." He mumbled. Roxy crossed to the bed and sat down next to him, stroking his hair.

"Why?" she asked.

"You seemed so scared at dinner. I know we're all worried about tomorrow, but I promise, everything is going to be fine." He replied with a sigh.

Tears started to fill her eyes. "You can't promise that." Roxy whispered back. His eyes grew round for a moment, but then they closed and his breathing evened out. He was asleep, and would stay that way while she was gone. She sniffled miserably and wiped away the tears. "I'm so sorry." Roxy murmured, leaning over to kiss his forehead.

Roxy peeked into Rose's room and saw that Dave was fast asleep as well, then she went down to the lab to grab her rifle. She looked at it, and grabbed a pistol just to be safe before heading back to the roof. The sun was just inches from touching the horizon, like it had been waiting for her. She took a deep breath and looked out at the waves.

"I'm ready to go." Roxy said to no one in particular, tears streaming down her face.


	11. Chapter 11

There was a loud splash and a lusus jumped out of the water onto the roof. Roxy didn't even have time to scream, she fell back onto her butt, staring up at the looming seahorse. It neighed at her, but then floated backwards, sitting on the edge of the roof.

"What?" Roxy asked, staring at it and wondering why it wasn't trying to kill her. Then there was a second splash and Eridan jumped gracefully next to the lusus.

"What are you doin down there?" Eridan asked, looking at her. "Well come on, get up, we need to go now." He put his hand on the harness around the lusus's snout and everything was suddenly obvious.

"That's your lusus!" Roxy said, pointing at the seahorse.

"Of course!" Eridan replied, looking at her. "He's raised me since I was just a wriggler, and now he's gonna give use a ride to the ship. We're going to have to go under water so no drones see us."

Roxy let her face fall. "Hey fish boy, in case you forgot I can't breath underwater!"

Eridan looked thoughtful. "Oh yeah." He walked up to her suddenly and gave her a kiss on the lips. Roxy recoiled in surprise, rubbing her mouth.

"What the shell are you doing?" She shouted.

"Oh don't flatter yourself land dweller." Eridan crossed his arms defiantly. "Kiss of a fish troll gives you the ability to breath underwater. It only works for a little bit, so we beta get go'in."

Roxy flushed, but nodded. She felt something strange in her throat, like it was getting harder to breath. Eridan gave her a leg up and then sat down behind her. He tugged on the reigns, and seahorse dad jumped back into the ocean.

Roxy held her breath right before they hit the water out of habit, but she quickly realized that Eridan had been telling the truth. She opened her mouth and found that the oxygen in the water was flowing through her system, and leaving through slits that had opened up in her sides. Roxy wondered if Eridan had his gills in the same place.

The water was a pleasant temperature, and didn't feel as wet as Roxy knew it should. The lusus carried them around at a fast pace, and the water rushing through her short blonde hair was a pleasant sensation. If not for their destination and the situation at hand, Roxy would be having fun.

They swam along for almost an hour before Roxy realized something was wrong. She opened her mouth, not knowing what to expect. A few bubbles escaped her lips as she tried to talk, but it seemed like Eridan could understand her just fine.

"Glub glub. Glub?" (I thought you said we were close. How much longer?)

Eridan frowned at her. "We're about halfway there, but it's only been what, A few minutes?"

Roxy felt scared all of a sudden. "Glub! Glub glub?!" (It's been an hour! Who taught you human time?!)

"Fef." Eridan replied.

Roxy put her forehead against the lusus's hard skin. Eridan had told her they'd be gone for only a few hours, but he got his times wrong. Roxy felt tears well up in her eyes. It was going to take them much longer than she originally thought. If Dirk and Dave woke up and found her missing, they'd be furious out of their minds, as well as upset. She put her hands to her temple in fright. This was all her fault.

They continued on without talking for another hour and a half before the lusus slowed down to a stop. Roxy knew without Eridan saying that they were there. They were under the condescension's ship. She looked up and could see it's shape, dark against the pale moonlight trickling underwater. Eridan wrapped his arm around Roxy and pulled her from his lusus's back.

"Dad's gonna give us a lift. Hold on tight." Eridan bubbled. Roxy nodded, and wrapped her arms around his waist.

Eridan swam up a little bit, and suddenly the seahorse swung it's tail around violently. Eridan used the force to jump up, and they broke the surface going faster than Roxy thought possible. She saw the ship as soon as they broke the surface, several hundred feet up in the air. She was suddenly glad the lusus gave them a lift.

The troll boy grabbed a hold of a platform once they were high enough, using the rest of his momentum to swing them over the railing and onto the ship. He overshot it though, and Roxy clattered out of his grip onto the unforgiving surface of the ship. A loose piece of metal cut her arm, and she had to keep herself from shouting out. It did however make her realize that she was breathing normally again.

Eridan crawled over to her, his gun in his hands. Roxy had no idea where he got it from, but decided not to ask. She checked her holsters and was glad to find her rifle and handgun were still on her. They weren't even wet, which surprised her. Eridan's spell must have done more than what he said. "The kiss wore off as soon as we broke the surface." He explained with a whisper, sitting next to her. "Don't get your guns wet." He added with a smirk.

"What now?" Roxy asked him in a whisper. They were on small platform on the side of the ship. In front of them was a door and nothing else. The whole ship was a candy red, and Roxy only hoped the inside wasn't the same. The drones were all the same red colour, so if the inside was red, they would see her coming and she wouldn't be able to see them.

"Fef is waiting for my signal to start the fight. I'll go up top, then join you, but you have to go on ahead without me." Eridan said, looking her in the eyes. Roxy gulped. "You'll be fine. Go in, stay quiet, and follow the path until you're at the center of the ship. Can't miss it." He gave her a reassuring smile, and a kiss on the forehead that had nothing to do with breathing underwater.

He stood up and took a small step back, then he launched himself upward, onto the top of the ship. Roxy waved him goodbye and pushed open the red door.

The inside of the ship was not as red as the outside was. In fact, it wasn't red at all. The inside was a dark and menacing grey colour, like a storm cloud waiting to strike. There was the occasional hiss of machinery, and a steam cloud, but otherwise the hall was empty and silent. Roxy held her gun at the ready and started down the hall at a run.

She jumped at every little noise, but not once was Roxy confronted. No drones, no trolls or lusus. She started to worry she was going the wrong way when she heard an explosion from high above her. Roxy ducked in fright, but kept running forward. She heard a shout from somewhere in front of her, and stopped short of turning the corner.

Roxy peeked around the corner and jerked her head back. There was two drones, and a two headed lusus in the room in front of her. It's ceiling was high above them, and bits of metal were raining down from the thunderous crashes above them. On either side of the room was a door with metal bars. The door closest to Roxy had a pair of hands wrapped around the bars.

"What's going on?" A woman was shouting. Roxy gripped her rifle, this was the room.

She had no time to waste. Get rid of the lusus first. She told herself, slowly leaning around the corner with her gun. She took aim at the first head and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew past the lusus and blew up the second drone. Roxy gasped and the first drone turned her way.

Before she could react the lusus slammed it's great fist into the drone, smashing it to bits. Then it looked up to where Roxy was hiding around the corner. It's red and blue eyes flashed, and she suddenly felt herself being tugged forward.

_Thank you_. The words weren't said out loud, but Roxy knew the monster was talking to her. It set her down gently in front of the cage and turned to walk away. She stared after it. The monster was on her side? Roxy shrugged. Something good had just happened to her, and she wasn't going to let it go to waste.

"Who's there? What's going on out there!" The old woman shouted again, making Roxy look up.

"Hold on! I'm going to save you!" Roxy shouted. She looked around the room for any thing to open the door with. Suddenly the locked flashed red and blue and clicked open. The door swung out slowly.

The woman who had been holding onto the bars stepped out first. She had white hair and round glasses, and was staring at Roxy with disbelief.

"You're a human, you can't be." She whispered. Then she stepped forward so that the next woman could get out. Roxy didn't recognize her a first, when it suddenly clicked. Long black hair, bright green eyes. It was Jade.

Jade gaped at her as well. "You're-" She started, before the third woman pushed her out of the way.

Rose looked worse than Roxy remembered. She was thinner than ever, her blonde hair was stringy and frayed. Her black dress was ripped, but her pink eyes were bright and full of love. Roxy's eyes filled with tears. "Mom!" She sobbed, throwing herself into her mother's arms.

Jade and the old woman were silent as Rose picked her daughter up and rocked her back and forth. "My brave little flower." Rose whispered.

"This is touching and all, but I want to get out of here." The old woman snapped.

"Sorry Harley." Rose wiped away the tears that were in her own eyes.

Harley's expression softened. "Oh, don't listen to an old woman's drabbles." Then she saw the rifle in Roxy's hand. "Let me use that, I'll clear us a path." She said, holding her hands out expectantly.

Roxy raised an eyebrow and looked at her mom. Rose nodded at her quickly, so Roxy handed it over. The old woman gave a malicious cackle and ran down the hall. Rose then dashed across the room to the other cell door. She tugged at it and found that the two headed monster had unlocked both doors at the same time. Roxy followed her mom into the next cell. Near the back wall was a pale man in a white suit. He was trying to stand up, but his legs were weak and he wobbled lightly. Rose took one arm and together they limped out of the room.

Roxy stared at him. He might have been good looking, but the years of imprisonment were hard on him. Same as Jade ad Rose.

"Roxy, this is Bill. Bill, Roxy." Rose said quickly.

"Hi." Roxy said blankly.

"Wow, so this is your daughter huh?" Bill smiled at her. "It's nice to finally meet you little lady."

"We need to go now." Jade interrupted in a tiny voice. As if to affirm her, there was another explosion from above, and then a second one from down the hall. Exactly where Harley had run off to. Roxy pulled out her hand gun.

"I'll lead, but she's right, we need to go now. I have a friend waiting." Roxy said, praying Eridan was still coming to help her.

Rose nodded, but with how hurt Bill was the going was slow. To pass the time Rose explained a few things. That Harley was Jade's grandma. How Jade had lost her little brother, Jake, in their first year of imprisonment. Bill had lost his daughter, Jane, as well. Rose was the last to be brought in, but she never gave up hope that Roxy would survive.

Roxy asked about the two headed monster. Jade quickly explained that the lusus were like parents to the trolls, and each one had their own troll to look after. The two headed monster, well his son was also a prisoner of the condescension, and she was holding him over the monster, blackmailing him into following her orders. The monster spoke to the humans, getting to know them, and protecting them from any further harm. He didn't want to see anymore kids hurt.

As they rounded the corner they found Harley holding her gun up, shooting down the last of a team of drones. In front her the two headed monster was laying down in the center of the floor, yellow blood gushing from several wounds.

"What happened?" Jade gasped.

"He protected me from the drones." Harley said sadly.

Roxy walked up to the lusus, who was wheezing with effort. "Thank you." She said. It smiled at her, then stopped twitching. Roxy, covered her mouth to hold back a sob. Was the killing never going to end?


	12. Chapter 12

Rose put her hand on Roxy's shoulder. "We can't do anything to help him now." She said sadly.

Roxy wiped away the tears in her eyes. "Yeah, I know." She stood up and pulled her scarf over her shoulder. The only thing left to do now was go up. Roxy nodded her head and lead the other four people up the stairs to their right. They were slow on their way up, Rose was helping Bill again. The stairs led to a second hallway, one that looked dark and menacing. It twisted and writhed like a snake, and there were several other halls leading to different direction.

They slowly wandered down the main hallway, not taking any of the side paths in fear of getting lost. Roxy and Harley took the lead, while Rose and Jade took turns helping Bill. Every few minutes they had to stop, which frustrated Roxy to no end. They had to reach the top. Eridan still hadn't come back, and Roxy kept looking behind them with worry. Was he still fighting with Feferi?

There was a loud crash from ahead of them that jarred Roxy from her thoughts. She and the rest of the group stopped and watched the hallway in front of them wearily. The lights flickered suddenly, and then a hulking looking drone came out of one of the side halls.

It hovered in front of them for a few moments before turning to look at them. Before it's robotic eyes could finish narrowing Harley had her rifle to her shoulder and was pulling the trigger. The top of it's head was blown clean off, revealing red circuitry. It started to spaz, as if in some sort of death fit, and while it was jerking around one of it's arm rockets went off.

Roxy could only watch with horror as the rocket careened down the hall toward them, until it suddenly took a sharp upward turn and exploded on the ceiling. She was tossed to her feet, her head reeling. Roxy tried to blink, tried to figure out how everyone else was, but she was to shocked. There was a loud ringing in the hall, or was it just in her ears?

"Mom?" She asked blankly, before something struck her in the back of the head and everything went dark.

A hundred miles away Dirk awoke with a start. Someone was shaking his arm.

"Roxy?" He asked, reaching out for her. He had another nightmare, this one much more vivid than the last. She was running away from him and he couldn't catch her. He could only scream as she died in front of him...

"No little man, it's me." Dave replied, pulling his hand back.

Dirk shook the last of his sleepiness away to stare at his dad. He quickly noticed that Dave was looking grim, and that Roxy wasn't in the room with them. After another moment he remembered that he had fallen asleep before she had come to bed.

"What's wrong?" Dirk asked with a yawn.

Dave frowned, as if trying to think of a delicate way to say it. "Roxy's gone." Was all he managed.

Dirk sat straight up. "Gone? She left? How? When? She didn't go to the- without you? Without telling me?" He let the words tumble out without stopping. Dirk's heart was beating rapidly, and his throat constricted. This could not be happening. There was just no way she was gone. Dirk looked at his father's sad expression and suddenly the truth hit him like a ton of bricks.

And he was mad.

Roxy betrayed him. She was doing it for a good reason, but she had gone against what he wanted. He clenched his fists and swung out of the bed surprising Dave with his ferocity. Dirk was mad, but quickly his fear and worry won out. There was only one option at this point.

"Well, let's go after her." Dirk said quickly.

Dave smiled at him, despite what had happened. "I was waiting for you to say that."

When Roxy woke up everything was dark. She blinked her eyes a few times, but the world around her remained shapeless and black. Then the pain hit her. A deep throbbing in the back of her head, a dull ringing in her ears. She was laying down on something cold and hard, and her muscles felt stiff.

She let out a groan as she tried to sit up. Her head continued to pound, but it wasn't nearly as bad as any of the hangovers she had had before. Roxy ran a hand through her hair and was surprised to find there was something wet. She didn't have to have light to know she was bleeding.

"Roxy?" It was Rose, her voice calling clearly from somewhere in the darkness. Then she was kneeling next to Roxy, pulling her daughter in a warm embrace.

"Mom?" Roxy asked, hugging her back. "What happened? Is everyone okay?"

"Yes, when the drone launched the rocket it collapsed part of the roof. You got hit in the head with a bit of debris and got knocked out, but the rest of us were just a little surprised. We ran back down the hall and hid in one of the empty rooms to wait for you to wake up." Her mother explained quickly.

"Is she awake?" Roxy could hear Jade from somewhere else in the room. She looked around and now that her eyes were getting used to the gloom she could see more. Jade, Bill, and Harley were standing a few feet away, all of them standing on their own now. The rest of the room was small, a few cabinets laid around the edges, knocked over and empty. Roxy was laying on some sort of table.

"How long was I out? Where's my gun?" Roxy realized quickly, patting down her sides for her weapon.

"We forgot the gun when we were getting you out of there, but don't worry, I grabbed something better." Harley said, in an almost malicious voice. She pulled out a drone arm, the side with the machine gun. "I figured out how to work it, by connecting a few of the wires. Almost blew my own leg off but it was worth it." she chuckled.

"You were asleep for a few hours." Jade added.

Roxy groaned again. A few hours? There was no way she would get back in time. No way Dirk wasn't awake now anyway.

"We need to get back up top, see if we can find a way off this damned floating cruise ship." Roxy said, swinging off the table. The throbbing in her head had already subsided, like it never wanted to bother her in the first place.

"You might want this." Bill said, handing her the rifle Harley had been using.

"Thanks." She replied curtly. Roxy took the rifle and looked at her party. All of them were frightened, even Roxy, but they were all determined. Bill was fixing his shirt compulsively. Jade was clenching her fists, her eyes glinting in the dark. Harley was making some final tweeks to the drone arm. Rose was staring at Roxy, her eyes full of pride and her smile serene. "Let's go."

Rose lead the way back to the main hallway, peeking around the corner to make sure there were no drones. She waved the rest of the group on, and took off running. Up ahead there was a patch of sunlight spilling in from the broken part of the ceiling. Roxy picked her way through the debris, trying to find her gun. To her displeasure, she couldn't find it anywhere. Just as she was about to give up she heard Jade call out from a few feet away.

"Hey! The gun!" She said, pulling it out from underneath a broken pipe.

"Great, now three of us are armed." Rose smiled, allowing Jade to keep it. Harley shifted her arm and snickered.

Before anyone could move there was a thunderous roar from above them and the small patch of light went out. Roxy looked up in surprise and had to bite back a scream. A white dragon circled the air above them, looking down into the hole in the craft. It opened its large jaws, and instead of another roar a jet of fire rained down on them.

The humans quickly scrambled out of the way and further down the hall. Roxy had to stop and put out her skirt since she was the closest to the hole when the fire came through. She patted it out with a screech, running backwards to keep the hole in her sights. There was a loud crash as the Dragon landed, and it stuck a great white claw into the hole, feeling around for them.

Roxy lifted her gun and shot it, a bit of teal blood spraying the ground. It roared and withdrew the claw.

"Roxy, lets go!" Rose said, pulling on Roxy's shirt. They were only a few feet from the door, but suddenly Roxy was having second thoughts. Did they really want to go out there? She hadn't heard anything from the condescension's fight since she woke up, and now there was a dragon lusus flying around. Before she could point that out Bill was pushing the door open and sunlight was once again spilling into the narrow hall. Roxy carefully followed them out, her gun still held at the ready.

They were in a slender hallway, but they were in the open air at least. On either end was a set of stairs, leading up to the flight deck. With a boost from Bill Roxy peeked around the ship. Roxy gulped. The entire area was clear, nothing to hide behind. Then she turned and looked at the back of the ship. There was a huge guard tower, and underneath it a regal looking red throne. Even at this distance Roxy could see magenta blood on it. Other than that there was no sign of the battle she heard before she was knocked out. No sign of Feferi or Eridan or even their target.

There was a loud screech from behind her and Roxy turned again. The dragon was thrashing about, sticking it's snout into the hole and trying to get in. There was a burst of flames that filled the entire hall where they had just been. Maybe it was a good thing they got out of there.

Roxy was lowered back down and looked at the rest of the group. Jade and Harley were looking murderous, holding their weapons at the ready while Rose and Bill were standing close together, holding hands.

"Is that witch up there?" Jade asked, barely concealing her blood lust. Roxy shook her head and put her finger over her lips.

"Just the dragon. We have to be careful." Roxy whispered back. She and Jade climbed one end of the stairs, while Harley went up the other side. She raised her arm to give them the signal, while trying to aim the rifle with one hand. The dragon twisted it's snout in the ship one last time before stopping suddenly. It's huge eye swiveled and looked straight at Roxy.

"Fire!" Roxy shouted, swishing her arm down. She quickly pulled her own rifle up and pulled the trigger. Her own shot was lost in the sound of Jade's pistol and the rat-a-tat-tat of Harley's machine gun. The dragon lusus roared in fury, swinging its head back and forth and spewing hot flames from it's mouth in every direction. The girls ducked back down in fear.

When Roxy peeked back up it was staring at her with one of it's eyes missing, blood splattering across the deck of the ship. Before it could move there was another explosion from behind it, and a small red ship zoomed overhead.

The dragon landed on the deck with a crash, its white tongue flopping out. The ship whizzed back around, lowering itself unto the deck. Roxy stared at it in wonder, when a hatch opened and two figures jumped out. Before she could even think she was sprinting forward, tears in her eyes.

Dirk caught her in his arms, spinning her around and crying just as much as she was.

"I'm so sorry." Roxy sobbed, taking his face in her hands. He looked hurt, and she never meant to do that to him.

He wiped his eyes, trying not to notice the dried blood in her hair. "Never do that again." He whispered, kissing her full on the lips.

She was lost in bliss for almost a full two seconds before the ship's engine blew up.


	13. Chapter 13

The entire ship rocked violently, but Dirk managed to keep a firm drip on Roxy, preventing her from falling over. Except for Rose and Harley, the rest were knocked hard to the ground. Roxy pulled her gun to the ready and spun around, fear squeezing her insides. She tried to be hopeful, to think that it was maybe Feferi or Eridan who had blown the engine on accident.

Black smoke billowed from the far end of the deck as the watch tower crashed over the edge and into the ocean. From the smoke a figure emerged. Roxy could barely make out features, it looked like a giant hairball. The thing knocked over the throne in an apparent fit of rage and started toward the humans.

Jade let out a shriek of fear and scrambled to her feet. Bill sat up, unable or unwilling to accept it. Rose knelled next to him offering a hand. Harley pulled her rifle up, while Dave ran to Jade's side to comfort her. Dirk pulled Roxy close.

"Just our luck." He whispered.

The condescension pulled her hair out of her face and lifted her trident in a menacing fashion. Her black body suit was ripped, and magenta blood was dripping down her left arm. Her mane of hair looked messy and unkempt, and her yellow eyes were filled with fury. Roxy suddenly noticed she was walking with a limp, and her thoughts turned from the approaching queen. Where were her troll friends?

The condescension had been battling for the last several hours, and it was obvious in her manner that she was tired, but that didn't make her any less threatening.

"Humans." She snarled. "Ya'll shella crazy."

"Where are my friends?!" Roxy surprised herself by shouting at the queen. Her companions looked at her with shock, and even the condescension stopped walking. "What did you do to them?"

"Your friends?" the queen paused. "Gill you really thought I'd let two traitors like that escape with all their fins on? Shell no. If they don't die from their injuries they'll be executed for their crimes."

Somehow her words gave Roxy hope. So neither of them were dead, not yet at least. She clenched her fists and pulled away from Dirk. She wasn't going to let the condescension do this. Roxy felt her arms shaking but put a brave smile on her face. There was no point running, the queen would just chase them down. They were going to have to fight.

Dirk seemed to notice her agitation. He pulled his sword out from it's holster and stood next to her. "You aren't going to do that." He said furiously.

The queen stared at the two of them for a moment before throwing her head back and laughing. "And are you little buckets of chum going to stop me?" She asked, her voice sounded like it was coming from under water.

"Yeah." Dave said, holding up his own blade, the craft abandoned behind him. He stood on Roxy's right side, opposite Dirk. Then Jade ran up and stood on his other side. Harley stood next to Dirk, followed by Bill. Finally Rose stood directly behind Roxy, her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "We are."

The queen scowled at them. "What does it matter how many of you there are? I can kill a hundred of you pathetic creatures without breaking a sweat." She growled, but the trident sagged in her grip as she spoke. Even if Eridan and Feferi lost, the still took their toll on her.

Harley laughed and pulled her gun up, intent on killing the condescension with one shot. The queen had other plans. As Harley pulled up her gun the queen jumped suddenly into the air, quicker than Roxy thought possible and threw her trident to the center of their group.

Before Roxy could react someone was pushing her out of the way and she was knocked to the deck. She looked up and saw the trident sticking deep into the deck where she had been standing. Dirk was looking at her from the other side of it, his face a mask of terror, and Rose was holding a small cut on her arm that she had gotten from protecting her daughter.

The condescension landed hard a few feet away from where Roxy was laying, her blood splattering the ground. She held her arm out, like she was reaching for the weapon, before clenching her hand into a fist. Roxy realized what she was doing and had barely rolled out of the way when the condescension punched the ground where she had been laying. The metal shell groaned and a piece fell away.

Roxy didn't even bother standing up. She scrambled for her gun, scooting backwards as the queen took another step forward. Suddenly the troll frowned and sprang forward, jumping over Roxy and several feet away from them. There was a loud clang as Dirk and Dave's swords collided where she had been standing.

"Missed." Dave spat furiously. He quickly withdrew his sword and charged the condescension.

Dirk helped Roxy up. "How can we hope to fight the queen of the trolls?" He asked helplessly. His orange eyes were wide with fear. It was one thing to yell at her when you were vindictive, but something else entirely to actually fight her.

Roxy shuddered. If Dirk was scared... Yet, she found it gave her strength. He needed her. Everyone needed her.

And suddenly she had a plan.

"Mom!" She shouted, turning away from Dirk. "Take Bill and Jade, get in the ship, and find Eridan and Feferi! They'll be in the water, and we need all the back up we can get." Then she turned back to Dirk. "You and your dad need to get ready for the fight of your lives." She pointed at the condescension, ignoring his surprised expression. "Look at her, she's hurt. It's going to be hard, but we can stall her until my mom finds our friends."

Rose helped Bill into the ship, and gave her daughter a fleeting look. "Be safe!" She called before shutting the hatch. She would figure out how the steer it she was good with machines. Roxy had no more time to worry about her mother. The ship was starting to fall, slowly, but it was falling from the sky none the less.

Dave and Harley were exchanging blows with the condescension in the middle of the deck, her trident flashing as it blocked all of their attacks. She whipped it around and smacked Dave with the flat side. He went sprawling to the ground, and she lunged forward, a triumphant look on her face.

"No!" Screamed Harley, pulling the trigger of her rifle. The queen, who had been intent on Dave, didn't move in time and groaned as the bullet hit her shoulder. She struck the ground in frustration and turned toward Harley instead.

Roxy took Dirk's hand. They could do this. He looked at her, his sword gripped tight in his hand. She smiled at him, and raised the pistol. "It's time to give this bitch hell."

He smiled back and raised his sword. "From us to her."

Together they sprang forward

The cloud of black smoke continued to billow around them, obscuring their view of everything sans the deck of the ship. Roxy had already lost track of the small ship her mother was in, but that didn't matter right now. The only thing that mattered was Dirk's warm hand in hers, and the tall figure in front of them. The condescension's deep magenta blood left colorful patterns on the hull, mixing eerily with the red blood from Dave's wounds.

The queen spun her trident furiously, preventing either of her assailants from getting a proper hit in. Every time Harley would slip up Dave would distract the troll long enough for her to get back up, and vise versa. The queen let out a snarl of frustration at her inability to kill these insignificant little flies.

As Roxy watched, the condescension stabbed at Harley. The elderly woman let out a small noise, holding up her rifle to defend herself. A loud snap tore through the air as the trident broke straight through the small gun, and through the soft flesh it was supposed to be protecting.

Roxy was aware of somebody screaming. It may have been Dave, or maybe Dirk, but all she knew was that she was suddenly alone. Her hand was empty. She froze, not wanting to look but unable to avert her gaze as the queen deftly tugged her weapon free from Harley's body. Harley slumped to the ground, the rifle spinning from her hand toward the broken throne.

Suddenly free from one side of her attacks, the condescension took a step back, away from the boys who were still thirsting for her blood. The troll gave them a smirk before she was obscured by the smoke, her wild mass of black hair helping her to blend in. Even injured she was fast.

Roxy stumbled forward, kneeling next to Harley. Three deep holes went straight through the woman, like someone had killed her with a giant hole puncher. Her glasses had fallen off, but Roxy didn't see where they were. The woman, who had been so bold in life, now seemed so small and fragile.

Roxy jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

It was Dirk, his face hard. "How did she disappear in this?" He was muttering, his eyes on the smoke that was still growing thicker as the ship sank through the air. Roxy frowned, wiping a tear from her eye. They couldn't drop their guards just yet.

"I don't see her." Dave shouted as he appeared from the haze. "We'll need to get to the other side of the ship if we want to stand a chance." He said solemnly. Roxy and Dirk nodded back at him.

Dirk helped Roxy to her feet, but didn't let go of her hand. He dragged her away from the body. Roxy glanced at Dave as she passed him. The man's good eye was watery, and he muttered something under his breath as she walked.

"Goodbye."

The shipped jerked noticeably underneath them. Its falling at a faster rate now. Roxy stares at her feet, like the cherry red metal she's standing on could give her all the answers she needs. And then, it sorta kinda does. Roxy's eyes wide as she looks at the deck and another explosion rocks the ship.

"She's trying to sink us." Roxy gasps.

"What?" Dirk stops to look at her. "How can she sink us, we're in the air-" He cuts off as it dawns on him. "Oh shit. Oh fucking shit god damn." Dirk cusses loudly.

The ship is in the air, for the time being at least, and the condescension doesn't like that one bit. She was the advantage in the water. The hull was already full of holes, and was slowly falling from the sky. When it hit the water it would sink, leaving the three of them sitting ducks. And now the queen had it figured out, blowing more holes so it would sink faster. Roxy put her hands to her temple, trying to keep from panicking. She had sent away their only ship, how could she have been so stupid?

"Roxy it's not your fault, we're going to make it." Dirk said quickly, correctly guessing what was bothering her.

"Dirk- I-" Roxy was crying now, hot tears of bitter disappointment. Before she could say anything else, dirk cut her off, pressing his lips against hers. Roxy wanted to sob, but he wouldn't let her. Dirk wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. She could taste blood in his mouth, or maybe it was just her? Whatever it was, it didn't last long.

Dirk pulled back, tilting her head slightly so Roxy could see him better. "We're going to make it." He said firmly. Roxy just nodded.

"Cute, but we do really need to get a higher point on the deck, or we're going to die of smoke inhalation before the condescension can get us." The teens jumped as Dave spoke. Roxy had forgotten he was there, but the older man was smiling gently at his son.

"Sure." Dirk muttered, and Roxy managed a smile when she saw he was blushing. Maybe she had screwed them over, but that didn't mean they had to give up hope just yet. They still had a chance, and Roxy wasn't going to let that go.


	14. Chapter 14

Roxy pulled her scarf around her mouth and followed Dirk and Dave through the thick cloud of smoke. She really had made a big mess of things. At least Dirk had forgiven her. Or he was too stressed to yell at her. Roxy flinched. He was almost certainly going to be furious when everything was over. She had DRUGGED him for christ's sake! She had run away, tried to save everyone, and in the end gotten Harley killed. Yeah, Dirk was probably going to be mad at her.

Then she realized that she hadn't ruined everything. Because Rose, her mother she thought she had lost eight years ago, was alive. Even if they were battered and scared, six people was better than two. And that was all that mattered.

Suddenly a figured loomed in the smoke, approaching them quickly. Dirk raised his sword and gave a war cry, jumping forward before Roxy could stop him.

"Whoa there killer!" A familiar voice shouted. "It's me!"

"Feferi?" Dave said in surprise. Dirk lowered his sword and took a step back. In the billowing cloud Feferi looked just like her sister, only a little bit smaller. The princess stepped close to Roxy, her breathing heavy. Just like the condescension, she had deep cuts in her arms, the same shade of magenta blood spilling down her wet suit. One of her horns had broken, and her left eye was swollen shut, but the troll was smiling.

"I'm so glad you three are fine." Feferi breathed.

"Where's Eridan?" Roxy asked quickly.

Feferi looked slowly at Roxy before shaking her head. "He was dead before I could heal him. The queen, she pinned me down, finished him and escaped. I left him with the Rose human and came up here as quickly as I could."

Roxy let out a small sob. Eridan had been a jerk, but he wasn't a bad person. He was just trying to save them, he didn't deserve to die.

"How do we kill her?" Dave hissed angrily. Roxy noticed that he had tightened his grip on the sword.

Feferi pulled Eridan's gun from behind her back- Ok now this is just ridiculous, where the shell did she have that stowed away?- And handed it over to Roxy. "You're the sharp shooter right? Eridan told me you shot the crosshairs before." Roxy nodded dumbly. "You and me. I pin her down, you finish her."

"I- Me?" Roxy stuttered. "You want me to kill her?"

"Can you?" Feferi asked.

Roxy looked down at the bright blue gun. Eridan's gun, the last lily petal of his existence. "Yes."

Dave and Dirk exchanged a glance. "What about us?" Dirk asked. He looked worriedly at Roxy, who was against killing. "What can we do to help?"

Feferi seemed to consider this. She reached up and very gently touched the broken horn. Roxy wondered if it was like when you chipped a tooth and couldn't stop feeling it to make sure it was really gone. "Honestly, you two should just stay out of the way. It's not that I don't think you're good fighters, its just that worrying about Eridan is why she managed to get away in the first place. I don't need to be looking out for you two as well."

Dave did his best not to look offended, but Dirk nodded solemnly. "Good luck, be safe okay?" He whispered, giving Roxy a quick kiss.

"Sure." Roxy replied. She couldn't help it, she was shaking.

"Now-" Feferi started, she picked up Dave with one hand and Dirk in the other. Dirk let out a chirp of surprise as he was tossed over the princess's shoulder. "Oh stop wriggling, I'm going to take you two to where the other humans are. Then I'll be back for you Roxy. Be careful, the condescension is still lurking about the ship, but I'm pretty sure she's going to stay hidden until the boat hits the water.

Roxy nodded, and Feferi jumped backwards, instantly disappearing into the smoke. Roxy blinked. After a moment she could no longer hear the troll or either of the boys she was carrying. It was as if the smoke had eaten the whole world, leaving nothing but one terrified girl left. Roxy tugged her scarf higher, and stumbled blindly forward, looking for a way out of the dark cloud.

She tried to keep her gait even, but she kept switching from a slow walk to a jog, and finally she broke into a mad dash forward. Roxy had no idea where she was headed, the haze had her completely disoriented. She held Eridan's gun firmly in her hands, and pointed down at the deck. If someone tried to approach her she'd be ready.

She had to fire the gun once before she found the edge of the deck. From the smoke she saw a large figure, to big to be a human or even a troll. Roxy crawled toward it slowly, before realizing it was a drone. She almost laughed. After everything she had been through a drone seemed like nothing. Sort of like after you beat the elite four and go back to the first gym in Pokemon. Roxy carefully raised the crosshairs and fired. She had forgotten how strong the recoil was. As the drone all but evaporated she was knocked to her ass.

Roxy groaned loudly. On top of all the bruises she had, no she wouldn't be able to sit for a week. She slowly got back to her feet and kept walking. Finally the smoke cleared and Roxy found herself looking at a hundred foot drop to the water. She got to her knees and looked around the water for signs of life. Maybe the craft her mom was in, or even Dirk or Dave. There was nothing.

Roxy started to panic. Where had the others gone? Then she saw something. She couldn't make it out at first, just a small white blob, then it whinnied loudly and she realized what it was. Eridan's lusus. Roxy was just getting all his hand me downs today. With a morbid smile she wondered if his cape was still intact. Then she realized that the very thought was sick and shook her head.

The lusus was calling loudly, and she realized it was looking for it's troll. Roxy covered her mouth with her hand. "I'm so sorry." She whispered. The seahorse looked at her a nickered, almost as if it could hear her.

Roxy gripped the gun tightly in her hand. There really was no point in staying on a sinking ship. It was time to bail. "Will you catch me?" She asked the white blob that was a football field's length away from her. It neighed. "Close enough."

And she jumped.

Dirk let out a short scream that was definitely not girly at all. Feferi landed in the water with a loud splash, and Dirk had to hold onto his glasses to keep from losing them. He blinked a few times, the salt water stinging his eyes before he was above the surface again. He noticed that Dave was also struggling to keep his head above the water.

"Dad?" Dirk bubbled, before Feferi accidentally dunked him again.

"Oh, sorry!" The princess chirped, holding them both up while she swam along. Dirk blinked. Holy crap she was strong.

He twisted awkwardly in her grip, trying to get a better view of where they were going. A large white form loomed above them, and it took him a moment to realize it was another lusus. Dirk balked at it. Sure the lusus he had seen before were big, but this was something else entirely. Feferi readjusted him again, and swam onto the things fin. So it was a whale lusus, alright that made a bit more sense. The whale flipped them up onto its back, and from here Dirk could see the other survivors huddled together.

Jade and Bill were standing a few feet away from a kneeling Rose. Her hands were stroking through Eridan's hair. Deep violet blood drained away from them, down the side of the whale and into the water. His shirt was ripped and- Dirk put his hand over his mouth and gagged- the troll's lower half was missing.

"Oh." Dave whispered absently. Once Feferi had set them down the older man sprinted to Jades side. She buried her face into his shoulder, sobbing loudly.

Dirk found he couldn't look away from his parents. "I've made a huge mistake." He said.

Feferi looked at him. "What?"

"I'm coming with you to fight the condescension! I shouldn't have left Roxy!" Dirk shouted at her, running his hands through his spiky hair. He glanced at Dave, who said nothing, and then back to Feferi. The princess looked like she wanted to argue, but when she opened her mouth nothing came out. He wouldn't have listened to her anyway.

Feferi picked up her trident and spun it menacingly. "There's not going to be any surface to stand on." She warned, looking down at his own weapon.

Dirk raised his unbreakable katana. If she thought he wouldn't be able to inflict damage with it, then the princess had another thing coming. "You don't know me at all." Dirk responded, managing a small smirk. He turned and walked toward the rest of the group. The other humans watched as he approach, and walked right passed them.

The youth set his hand on the metal ship he had flown in. "Dave made it so this could turn into a hover board. Didn't you?" Dirk said boldly.

Dave nodded. They had built ships together back on the island they called home. As a fail safe, Dave added a switch that made the ship fall apart, each booster turning into a functioning hover board they could use to escape.

Dirk climbed into the ship and hit the lever. The whole machine groaned and wobbled beneath him, and he jumped out of the cockpit. There was loud crash as the ship crumbled in on itself. Dirk tossed a few spare parts aside. They fell with a loud bang unto the lusus's back. Then he pulled out a five foot long board out.

"That's impressive." Rose said finally, looking at the pile of scraps.

"Us Striders have a way with machines." Jade smiled.

Dirk set the board on the whale's back, and stepped onto it. He clicked a button with his shoe and it flared to life, slowly rising until it was a few feet in the air. Dirk rested his sword on his shoulder blades. "Alright princess. Let's do this."


	15. Chapter 15

The lusus let out a whinny that Roxy was 98% sure translated into "Have you lost your mind?!" Before it sprung out of the water to catch her. Roxy let out a yelp as she grabbed onto it's reigns. They both fell a few feet, and Roxy's shoe tip touched the waves beneath them. Then Seahorse dad pulled her back up.

"Thanks!" Roxy said cheerfully as she scrambled unto the saddle. The lusus nickered at her furiously, and she imagined he was her dad criticizing her latest stupid stunt. "Sorry." She muttered. Then she looked up and gasped.

The ship hit the water only a few feet from them sending large wave in all directions. Roxy held tight to the reigns, fear welling in her stomach. It quickly proved to be pointless. The lusus floated above the wave, like a butterfly riding a draft around a hand.

The ship creaked loudly, groaning in pain as it fell to pieces. Roxy tugged on the reigns, trying to get as far away as she could. Seahorse dad nickered again, but backed up none the less.

Suddenly something gold shot through the air where they had just been. Roxy stared at it fly up in confusion. As it reached it's peak the object slowed down long enough for her to see what it was. A trident. Roxy's eyes widened with fear, and this time when she tugged the reigns the lusus turned and shot off away from the debris.

A dark arm reached from the waves just in time to catch the falling trident. The condescension rose from the sea like a monster, her head thrown back in a triumphant laugh. "Did you think you could betta way from me?" The queen cackled.

"That doesn't even make sense." Roxy said, pulling the reigns back and wildly swinging the gun at the troll. The condescension's eyes narrowed when she saw the crosshairs.

"Did you find that scum guzzling chum bucket's gun, or did my guppy replacement give it to you?" She snarled.

"What?" Roxy shouted back. "Seriously I don't get half of your stupid fish puns. Eridan's were better. Wait, sorry, his were betta."

She wasn't sure why she was taunting the queen, but it made her feel better. Small victories. Her jests had the intended affect on the condescension though. The queen bared her sharp fangs at Roxy, her eyes blazing. She raised her trident, the same time Roxy raised the gun. Then the teen hesitated. The gun was strong, and if she didn't have a good grip she might get knocked off the lusus and-

"Shit!" Roxy yelped as the condescension charged her. The lusus reared beneath her but didn't flee. "Oh come on! Now is not the right time to teach me a lesson!"

Fine. Roxy let out the breath she had been holding, gripped seahorse dad as tight as she could with her knees and pulled the trigger.

Just like she predicted, she wasn't strong enough to keep her grip. The beam from the gun was cut short as Roxy fell backwards. Seahorse dad reared in surprise as he lost his rider. Roxy lost of everything but the gun in her hands. She gripped it tighter, refusing to let go like it was her last lifeline. She didn't see the condescension knock away the blast with fury, and then wincing as a stray beam caught her shoulder. She didn't notice the red figure shoot out from the smoke cloud that still surrounded the burning ship. She didn't see Feferi dive from the ship into the water.

Twenty feet from the water. The world rushed past her. Ten feet from the water. Don't loose the gun, for god's sake, don't loose the gun! Five feet. Shit, this is it. Then something hit her painfully, and she felt someone curling their arms around her. Roxy blinked her fuchsia eyes a few times, still moving too fast to really be sure what was going on. A pair of stupid pointed shades looked back at her.

Dirk. He set her down, banking the hover board sharply so that they could come to a stop. Far below them, just above the waves, the condescension was glaring daggers. Roxy had narrowly avoided death one to many times for her comfort, and she wasn't sure for how much longer her luck would hold out. Seahorse dad was no where to be seen, and Roxy had a feeling he had swum away. Well, at least one of them would survive the day.

"Will you two bits of chum sit still? This is getting shell-a annoying." The queen snarled. "Two monkeys should not be so hard to krill!"

Dirk tilted the board forward, pulling his sword out from his belt. They edged forward, closer to the queen. Roxy wobbled slightly, dazed by her fall. Dirk reached a hand out to steady her. "That was too close. But don't worry, I'm not leaving you again." He whispered.

"Dirk, why'd you come back?" Roxy hissed.

"Why do you think?" Dirk replied lightly. Roxy grew quiet.

"What are we going to do now?" She said finally, glancing down at the queen. The condescension was still staring at them, which was weird. Why had she not tried to attack them again? As Roxy watched the queen gently pressed her right hand to her left shoulder. There was a new burn mark there. Oh. "I hurt her!" Roxy whispered excitedly, pointing at the troll.

"Well then." Dirk smirked. "We'll just have to do it again!"

At the last word he dipped the board violently forward, sending them into a nose dive. Roxy let out a shriek, nearly dropping the rifle because of how quickly she wrapped her hands around Dirk's waist. He let out an excited whoop, raising his sword as they drew closer.

The condescension's eyes widened as they came toward her, but the surprise quickly faded making away for a sneer of contempt. She raised her trident to catch his attack, but at the last second Dirk swerved the board, and the two of them barreled past the troll.

"Dirk what the- YOU MISSED!" Roxy shrieked, turning to look back at the queen. The condescension looked just as confused as Roxy felt. Then the water beneath her exploded. Feferi burst from the waves like a bullet from a gun. Her sister didn't have a chance to move as the princess slammed into her, sending them both skidding across the waves.

"We were the distraction." Dirk admitted sheepishly.

"Oh good." Roxy replied as the slowed back to a halt. She took one of her hands from his shirt and pressed it to her chest. "Is this what a heart attack feels like?" Roxy asked, her heart fluttering rapidly under her palm.

"Nah, that's adrenaline." Dirk smiled. "Shit's the best. Way better than any drug."

From across the water came a loud screeching sound, making both of them freeze. The condescension had resumed her levitating right above the water, holding onto her descendant. Feferi had a trident through her chest, and was still trying to fight back. Roxy let out a gasp before she saw a green glow surrounding the seemingly fatal wound. Feferi was healing her chest while the weapon was still embedded in it.

Finally the condescension managed to toss Feferi, the trident still attached. The princess disappeared below the waves, a cloud of magenta blood billowing behind her. The condescension let out the same screeching noise, and made a move to follow her.

"Dirk!" Roxy shouted, pointing toward the elder troll. He didn't need her to say anything else. Dirk leaned forward again. They didn't go into the same terrifying nose dive as before, but they did shoot forward.

The condescension turned to snarl at them, obviously displeased at how the battle was going. She was bloody, her breath coming in short gasps. The fins on the side of her face were torn, one of them nearly falling off. Despite the terrible physical wounds she carried, the condescension still held herself high. She was royalty, and she would not show weakness toward lower life forms.

Roxy almost felt bad for her. The condescension had gotten to this point by her strength, and stayed for her hatred. The queen had no one she cared for, only herself. It showed in the way her eyes blazed with fury.

Again Dirk banked swiftly, nearly throwing Roxy.

"One of these days your not going to fall for it." Dirk said as Feferi resurfaced. The queen turned around, never loosing the snarl on her lips. Feferi hefted the trident up in her arm, and threw it as hard as she could.

The weapon pierced straight through the condescension's leg. The queen staggered, but didn't fall. She turned back to face the humans. Roxy stared at her, looking for remorse in the troll's vicious pink eyes. She saw nothing.

"Roxy!" Feferi shouted from where she was floating. Her suit was still ripped, but the holes were gone from her chest. "Roxy now!"

Roxy nodded and stepped to the front of the board. Dirk quickly moved to support her, bracing himself for the kick back.

The queen smiled. "Whatever, this planet was shell-a dope."

Roxy pulled the trigger. With Dirk behind her she managed to keep her balance this time. A moment later the condescension hit the water. The troll queen and her trident sank slowly, until there was nothing left.

Feferi covered her mouth with her hand, trying to hold back sobs of relief. She sank below the waves until only the tip of her good horn was visible. Was she watching the last of her sister sink? Roxy looked down at the gun in her hand. She had ended a life with it. It was the only thing she could have done, but it still hurt.

"Sorry Eridan." Roxy whispered as she dumped the gun. It hit the water with a splash, following its queen into the depths.

"You did the right thing." Dirk said quietly.

"I know." Roxy responded. She turned around and leaned into his embrace with her whole body. She never wanted to move, and now that they were free she didn't have to. For the first time in her life, Roxy could see a future with the people she loved. She could have hope. And there was nothing she had ever wanted more.


	16. Epilogue

Roxy held a small bouquet of lilies in her hands as she walked to the edge of the city. The sun was slowly falling down the sky, dying everything in the deep oranges and pinks of twilight. She pulled her jacket closer to her body and shivered. Winter would be coming soon enough.

Feferi was still staying with the white queen in her castle. Ever since the Condescension died and she became empress Feferi had been planning. Planning a new future for the trolls. She was going to stop all the attacks on other planets, and save the other races that could still be saved. The reign of terror was over.

But at what cost?

There was only six humans left, and barely any earth for them to live on. Feferi promised to help them first, but she didn't know how to go about doing that. The planet was destroyed. Still, Roxy didn't feel like everything was hopeless. There was still six humans. They had the cities and the carapaces, and the strength and will to rebuild a civilization.

Roxy turned onto the dock and froze when she saw a tall figure standing on the edge. She hadn't realized anyone else would be here, she had wanted to talk to the people she lost alone. Roxy shifted from foot to foot trying to think of something to say when the man turned around and noticed her.

He had a tight black and gold uniform, his eyes hidden away behind a blue and red visor. However his most interesting feature was his horns. Instead of having two like the rest of the trolls, he had four.

"Oh hey R.Y" Sollux said, walking down the dock toward her. "Thorry, I wath just thaying bye to that mithrable E.D"

Roxy nodded, not really sure what he just said. Sollux had joined them a few days after the Condescension died, mostly because Feferi wanted her matesprit to be close since her moirail had died. Roxy was beginning to understand troll romance, and thought it was nice that the pilot in training had come so quickly when his girlfriend called.

"Eridan..." Roxy whispered. "You weren't close to him were you?"

Sollux grimaced and rubbed his short black hair. "We were calligonuth. Uh, I don't know if F.F explained what that meanths."

"You were hate dating him?" Roxy questioned. Feferi had mentioned that Sollux and Eridan were in some sort of quadrant together, but it was the one that meant the least amount of sense to Roxy.

"Yeah, that." Sollux replied quickly. "Hate dating. We didn't really like each other, but I can't believe heth dead. Not tho soon after..." the troll fell silent.

Roxy suddenly remembered something Eridan had said that day after the goat lusus had destroyed the town. "He was really bitter about something when I talked about graves. Who did he lose?"

Sollux looked out to the horizon. "We both lothed the same guy. Thee, back when we were kids E.D and F.F broke their morilegenth for a while, and E.D found thomeone elth. My betht friend, Karkat. He was a real shitty friend, but he lithened and he understood any problem you brought to him. So when we found out he was a mutant, well it tore our small circle of friendth apart. To his credit, E.D didn't waver, and stood by K.K up until he died. Thomthing changed in E.D after that. At leatht he had calmed down enough for F.F to take him back. Things jutht weren't the thame after K.K. I stopped talking to half of my old friendth, and E.D felt like they all forgot him because he was a mutant. It wasn't fair. It jutht wathn't-" He cut off again, and Roxy realized he was crying. Pale yellow tears were streaking down his face, splashing onto his jump suit.

"Shh." Roxy hushed him, pulling the tall troll boy into a hug. Sollux sobbed quietly into her shoulder while she patted his back. "Hey, things will get better. For all of us."

Sollux pulled back and looked at her. His eyes looked large behind the dual colored visor, so wide and full of pain. "Thorry. I'm- Fuck. I didn't mean to break down on you."

Roxy just smiled. "It's ok."

The troll just shook his head. "I'm going to thee F.F." He muttered, before swiftly walking away from her. She watched his fleeing figure until he was lost in the cities walls. He did remember he could fly right? Because he walked everywhere. If he wasn't just sobbing on her shoulder Roxy would have laughed.

She looked back up. "Oh shit!" She cried angrily. The sun had set while she was talking to Sollux. Roxy stomped her foot and walked to the edge of the dock. This is where they had held the burial for Eridan and Harley, sprinkling their ashes onto the endless ocean.

"Hey guys, I hope you're listening." Roxy said loudly. "Feferi offered to take us back to Alternia with her, but after much debating... well, we're staying here. The six of us are going to live here in this city and rebuild our lives. It's not a whole lot, but it's home."

Roxy let out a sigh. "I guess you were right Eridan, when we first started talking I was pretty hopeless. I was worried that the small family I had put together would fall apart again. That Dave had lied about my mom, or she was dead, and all the weight of what he said was going to crush me. I was just a void, a dark hole waiting for all the lights to go out and life could become the same it had been before. But it's not. They'll all leave eventually, I will too, but until then we're staying together. And we'll never forget you and Harley, and what you two gave up so we could live. Thank you."

She dropped the lilies one by one into the water, watching as they slowly drifted away. Then she turned and headed back into the city. There was much to be done before the world would be hers again, but at least this time Roxy had a family to help her.


End file.
